- BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S.
investigators have concluded that China almost certainly gained access
to classified information as a result of a mid-air collision between a
Chinese fighter and a U.S. spy plane, Jane's Defense Weekly says in its
next edition.
-
- An official U.S. report, obtained by Jane's last week
under the Freedom of Information Act, blamed the Chinese F-8 fighter for
the April 2001 collision over the South China Sea off China's southern
island province of Hainan.
-
- The U.S. report contradicted China's version of the accident
which Beijing said was the EP-3E spy plane's fault. The collision killed
the fighter pilot, Wang Wei, and soured Sino-U.S. relations just after
George W. Bush had become president.
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- China held the 24 crew members of the spy plane for 11
days and released them only after Washington said it was "very sorry"
for the death of the Chinese pilot and the spy plane's landing on Hainan
island without permission.
-
- China returned the plane in July 2001.
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- The report said the spy plane crew had been unable to
destroy all classified "materiel" on board in time before making
their emergency landing.
-
- "Compromise by the People's Republic of China of
undestroyed classified materiel...is highly probable and cannot be ruled
out," the report said.
-
- Reuters obtained Friday an advance copy of the Jane's
story, which did not say what classified materiel was compromised.
-
- The crew had jettisoned some materiel from the starboard
hatch, smashed equipment with an axe and other hard objects and upon landing,
hand-shredded classified papers, the report said.
-
- The Chinese Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.
-
- Bilateral relations have since normalized and China has
backed the U.S.-led global war on terror.
-
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