China Not To Allow US Spy Plane To Fly To USA

Beijing will not allow the US surveillance plane, which made an emergency landing at China's Hainan Island early in April, to take off from Chinese territory on its own, since the plane got seriously damaged, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. That was a comment on the statements by US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld to the effect that it could be possible to repair the US jet to fly it from the Chinese island. The Chinese diplomat called on the USA "to opt for a pragmatic and constructive approach to have the problem with the US plane settled in an adequate way." At the same time he said nothing either on a possible way to return the plane or on when Beijing would make a decision on this issue.