Apology doesn't please everyone

©Los Angeles Times, published April 12, 2001

[AP photo] A newspaper delivery man sits next to a stack of Taiwanese evening newspapers featuring a front page photograph of the U.S. crew exiting Continental Airlines Flight 881 after it arrived at Andersen Air Force Base.

HAIKOU, China -- To some, it wasn't a deep enough kowtow. But Washington's message of regret provided enough face-saving room for many citizens to accept their government's decision to let the 24 crew members of a downed American spy plane go home.

The 11-day standoff and sudden breakthrough, however, rekindled resentment of perceived American arrogance, especially on the island where the U.S. plane made an emergency landing.

It also made China look weak to some of its own citizens.

Shortly after the announcement of the impending release, an angry crowd gathered in the rain outside the military guest house where the Americans were being detained. They chanted slogans and raised placards that read "Down with American Hegemony." But the protest was quickly quieted by plainclothes police, who otherwise left them alone to vent their outrage at the tone of Washington's message.

"What they wrote is like a love letter; you can say whatever you want, but you don't have to mean it," said 27-year-old Zhou Jun, a former soldier. "We need Bush to come here and apologize to us face to face."

"Our government should have been much tougher. We let them go way too easily," Fang Jia, 22, an unemployed college graduate, said in a Haikou Internet cafe.

"Talk is cheap; we need to see some real compensation to (missing pilot) Wang Wei's family and the Chinese people," said Lin Caimei, who was checking her e-mail.

Many tempered their dissatisfaction. They did not rally in the streets the way they did after NATO bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade two years ago.

"U.S. and China are like friends. One of them stepped on the other's foot. They should say, 'Sorry.' It's not necessary to treat each other as enemies," said Lu Guoqiang, a film producer.

More reaction

U.N. CHIEF KOFI ANNAN: "I'm extremely happy that this issue has been resolved because we were all concerned that the longer it got drawn out, the more likelihood the possibility that positions would have hardened in both countries, and complicated and perhaps harmed the relationship that has taken so long to put together."

JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER YOHEI KONO: "I ... look forward to rejoicing along with the families of the U.S. air crew members that they will be able to return home."

SOUTH KOREAN U.N. AMBASSADOR SUN JOUN YUNG: "The good relationship between the United States and China is very important ... (and) contributes to the stability of the region, including the inter-Korean peace process. So I'm happy the aviation collision issue is being resolved."

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