Pilot of Chinese fighter missing after collision with US spy plane

The already tense relationship between the US and China was under more pressure last night after China accused an American spy plane of causing a Chinese fighter plane to crash.

The already tense relationship between the US and China was under more pressure last night after China accused an American spy plane of causing a Chinese fighter plane to crash.

The American EP-3 surveillance plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Chinese territory after coming into contact with one of two Chinese F-8 fighters. It issued a Mayday signal before landing on an airbase on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

The Chinese authorities said its fighter had crashed into the sea as a result of the collision and that a search for the pilot was underway.

Both sides were quick to blame the other for the incident. The US said its plane, with a crew of 24, had been on a routine flight and was in international airspace when it was "bumped" by fighters sent to intercept it. Beijing said the US plane had been in Chinese airspace and had aimed itself at one of the F-8 jets.

"A Chinese aircraft was conducting normal flight operations 104 kilometres [60 miles] south of Hainan Island when a US plane suddenly veered towards it," Chinese state television quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying. "The nose and left wing of the US plane hit the Chinese plane and caused it to crash ... China is now searching for the crew."

Washington said it expected China to return the American crew. "That is the standard practice. We would expect them to follow it," a White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said.

The incident, which happened yesterday morning, comes at a time of increasingly strained relations between the US and China. The Bush administration has sought to redefine China as a "strategic competitor" rather than a "strategic partner".

China, meanwhile, is deeply concerned about Washington's planned national missile defence system as well as by the proposed sale of military hardware to Taiwan. A report yesterday said a US review had concluded Taiwan required a ship-carried radar system that China has placed at the top of a list of arms it does not want sold to Taipei.

Lt Col Dewy Ford, a spokesman for the US Pacific Command in Hawaii, said the navy plane had been operating from a US base on the Japanese island of Okinawa and had been on a routine surveillance operation. "The planes bumped into each other," he said, adding that the US crew were unharmed. "We expect the [Chinese] government to respect the integrity of the aircraft and have the crew's safety and well-being in mind."

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhu Bangzao, said it was in accordance with international practice for China to monitor US surveillance planes flying in its airspace. He added that the US plane had not sought permission to land at Lingshui military airport on Hainan Island. Claiming that the Americans "should bear all responsibility" for the incident, Mr Bangzao said China was considering whether to seek compensation from the US.

Although it seems likely that the actual collision was an accident, the incident represents a serious test for President Bush, who was spending the weekend at his Camp David retreat, in the company of his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.

It is also a considerable embarrassment for the US. The four-propeller EP-3 is considered to be a highly classified aircraft. It is filled with sophis- ticated electronic surveillance equipment, used for monitoring Chinese troop movements in and out of Hong Kong as well as the status of missile sites directed towards Taiwan.

One Pentagon source was yesterday quoted as describing the EP-3 as "the most sensitive aircraft in the US inventory". It was in this context that US officials were quick to insist that China return the plane "intact".

The New York Times yesterday reported that a review by US Navy officials who had visited Taiwan to assess its naval requirements had concluded that it needed a considerable "infusion" of new weapons. These included the radar system Aegis, the sale of which has been contested by China.