A Chinese fighter jet was flying below the US EP-3 propeller plane when the spy plane banked to the left, the Washington Post said yesterday quoting Western sources in Beijing.
Briefed by US officials, the unidentified sources did not make clear who was to blame for Sunday's mid-air collision over the South China Sea that forced the US spy plane to make an emergency landing on China's Hainan island, where its 24 crew members were taken into custody.
However, the sources said the data provided by US officials seems to explain China's assertion that the incident was the fault of the US because the EP-3 moved "suddenly" causing the accident.
The accident led to the fighter's crash into the sea and the disappearance of its pilot.
Earlier accounts of the accident indicated that the EP-3 had been intercepted by two Chinese F-8s, but no public mention was made of the Chinese jet's position beneath the US spy plane, or the US plane's banking maneuver to the left.
The Western sources also said that after the bump, the spy plane fell 2,440m before the pilot succeeded in righting it.
At that point, the sources added, the US crew began destroying sensitive software and data in the plane to prevent it falling into Chinese hands.
The US spy plane, a Pentagon official said, made an extremely fast landing at Lingshui air base on Hainan, because the pilot feared the collision might have damaged his controls and that only one of his flaps (which brake the plane on descent) may have been working.
After it had come to a rest, the US plane was surrounded, then boarded by Chinese guards who escorted the 24 US airmen at gunpoint off the plane, the Western source said.
A day later, the source said, the Chinese army dispatched a cargo plane loaded with men and technical equipment from Beijing to the base to study the US aircraft.
In related matters, US Senator Richard Lugar said yesterday that the pilot of the lost Chinese jet had challenged the US plane on previous occasions.
"It appears to me on this occasion he simply exceeded his grasp," Lugar said of the Chinese aviator: "The pilot involved is apparently the same pilot who's been observed by our reconnaissance aircraft in the past."
Lugar spoke yesterday on US television. "The flight we were flying is a regular flight, known to the Chinese, known to the Indians, the Pakistanis, everyone in the area," he said. "So there were very few surprises with this lumbering plane moving along." Nevertheless, Lugar said, in recent days Chinese fliers, "and this particular pilot on several occasions," had challenged the surveillance flight.
"It is tragic for him and tragic for the Chinese and tragic for us, because it was only a miracle that our plane got down safely and the 24 Americans are still alive," Luger said.
Former Defense Secretary William Cohen said the US had previously protested the practices of Chinese interceptor pilots.
"A very strong protest was lodged back in January [over] these fighter aircraft coming within a matter of feet of reconnaissance aircraft, thereby posing a danger to all concerned. That apparently is what happened here," Cohen said.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS