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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