Some lawmakers are
losing patience with China
By Sandra Jontz, Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — The Chinese government proved to be an enemy of the United States when officials decided to hold a U.S. Navy crew and its spy plane hostage after an emergency landing on Chinese soil, a U.S. Congressman said Thursday.
"This harassment is not an accident," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "They are sending us a message. … The Chinese are not our friend, and they keep trying to tell us that."
But the White House announced Thursday that it was "encouraged" by talks between U.S. and Chinese officials on releasing the 24 American crewmembers of a downed Navy reconnaissance plane, spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
"There is intensive diplomacy under way and the United States and China are heavily engaged in discussions," said Fleischer, who declined to give further details because of the sensitivity of negotiations.
Pentagon spokesman Rear. Adm. Craig Quigley said Thursday that the only nonclassified information he could share about the briefing in China on Tuesday was that the crew reported being in good health and asked for toothpaste and deodorant, toiletries that were delivered.
Quigley declined to say if crew managed to talk about if they managed to destroy sensitive information and how much and what happened in flight before and during the accident.
In this battle of diplomatic patience between the United States and China, tension in the U.S. Congress is reaching a fever pitch as lawmakers see no immediate resolution to the escalating confrontation over the detained plane and its crew.
"Every day that our military personnel are held hostage in China is a day of increasing tension, and that is being magnified in Congress," Tancredo said.
The EP-3E Aries II crew made an emergency landing Sunday on a Chinese military base on Hainan Island following a midair collision with a Chinese fighter jet. The crew met Tuesday for roughly 45 minutes with the U.S. Defense attaché.
The Chinese pilot is presumed dead and Chinese officials have demanded an apology from the United States for the accident — an apology the White House said is not forthcoming.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed "regret" over the pilot’s presumed death, but did not say the United States was sorry.
Tancredo supports President Bush’s "tempered and measured reaction," but said it’s likely to be short-lived.
"It has to happen in that area, and there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes that I don’t know about and I don’t want to second-guess the Bush administration," he said. "But I don’t think it can continue much longer."
Military action is inappropriate now, Tancredo said, but added that nothing can be ruled out. Power is one thing the Chinese government respects, he said.
"Diplomatic and foreign policy is the ‘king of the hill’ type of analogy in the most simplest sense," Tancredo said. "The reality is, we’re not going to get anything by pussyfooting around them. They understand and respect power and they respect a no-nonsense approach."
He and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., on Wednesday introduced a bill to revoke trade relations with China.
Bush does not support the Congressional measure to sever trade ties and continues to hope this incident does not damage long-term relations, Fleishcer said.
The bill, however, has support in the House of Representatives, with some 40 fellow lawmakers co-sponsoring the bill within 10 minutes of its introduction, Tancredo said.
"This situation is indicative of the regard in which the Communist regime in China holds our government," Hunter said.
"The fact is, while we trade with China, they prepare for war. The Communist regime is producing long-range ballistic missiles, which are targeted at U.S. military bases and American cities," Hunter said. "They have engaged in espionage activities in which U.S. military secrets were stolen, and they have developed weapon systems that threaten the U.S. and its allies."
Trading with China no longer serves the United States well, Tancredo said.
"The implication of this from my point of view is a recognition of the reality that China is not a trading partner with us," he said. "They are a hostile and aggressive force with whom doing business is not in our best interest."
Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., called for a closure of ports to Chinese shipments, which could leave Americans clambering for its Nike tennis shoes and Army black berets, Tancredo said with a laugh.
The Pentagon unexpectedly canceled a press briefing Wednesday in which officials were slated to defend the decision to have some of the new black berets manufactured in China.
The official reason was the report was not complete, but others said the cancellation was to avoid conflicting image of accepting Chinese-manufactured berets while condemning China’s failure to release American detainees.
Maintaining a trade relation depends on the Chinese, said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.
"They want trade with us, they should act like a civilized nation," Wolf said.
The United States imports $80 billion more of Chinese products than it exports to the communist nation, he said.
"This has to be a two-way street," he said. "It is not all that beneficial for the United States."
Other lawmakers, however, disagree with the bill.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., told The Associated Press: "I think that’s very premature and I think it could be counterproductive."
House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., also told AP he disagreed.
"I didn’t totally agree with the policy on China [trade bill], but we made a decision as a country. If we’re asking them to live up to their obligations ... we ought to live up to ours."
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