China Gives US Access To Spy Plane

China has granted the USA permission to inspect the US spy plane that made an unauthorized crash landing at the Lingshui air base on the Chinese island of Hainan following a collision with a Chinese fighter on April 1, Chinese official sources announced Sunday. They pointed out that the United States had agreed to pay a compensation to China. The Xinhua news agency emphasized that permission was granted after China "had completed its investigation and collected the evidence blaming the US plane for the incident." Chinese sources disclosed that US and Chinese diplomats had held a series of negotiations on the incident, where "China reiterated its position that the US plane had rammed into the Chinese fighter." During the negotiations, the two nations agreed to debate issues of preventing such incidents in the future, applying a safety mechanism at sea and in the air. The USA agreed to pay a compensation to China. The specific amount of the compensation will be subject to separate talks. However, Hongkong-based sources claim that the Chinese bill for the US pilots staying in the territory of the People's Republic visa-free alone runs into $16,000.