STILL MISSING IN CHINA

RETURNED TO MILITARY CONTROL
FROM CHINA
APRIL 11,  2001

Navy Releases Names of Crew Members
The Associated Press
Monday, April 2, 2001; 8:09 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON -- The Navy on Monday released the names of the 24 members of the crew of the EP-3E Aries II electronic surveillance plane that landed in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet.

The crew are members of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One, based at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Wash.

They include 22 members of the Navy, one Air Force senior airman and a Marine Corps sergeant.

Here are the names, ranks and home of record:

NAVY

Ensign Richard Bensing of Brandon, Fla.

Aviation Electrician's Mate 3rd Class Steven Blocher of Charlotte, N.C.

Cryptologic Technician Seaman Bradford Borland, whose home of record was not listed.

Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class David Cecka of Leavenworth, Wash.

Lt. (j.g.) John Comerford of Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.

Cryptologic Technician Operator 1st Class Shawn Coursen of Valdosta, Ga.

Cryptologic Technician Collection Seaman Jeremy Crandall of Poplar Grove, Ill.

Cryptologic Technician Interpretive 1st Class Josef Edmunds of Davis, Calif.

Cryptologic Technician Interpretive 2nd Class Brandon Funk of Showlow, Ariz.

Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class Scott Guidry of Satellite Beach, Fla.

Cryptologic Technician 2nd Class Jason Hanser of Billings, Mont.

Lt. Patrick Honeck of La Mesa, Calif.

Lt. (j.g.) Regina Kauffman of Warminster, Pa.

Aviation Machinist's Mate Senior Chief Nicholas Mellos of Ypsilanti, Mich.

Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class Ramon Mercado of Moreno Valley, Calif.

Lt. Shane Osborn of Norfolk, Neb.

Lt. (j.g.) Richard Payne, whose home of record was not listed.

Cryptologic Technician 2nd Class Kenneth Richter of Staten Island, N.Y.

Lt. Marcia Sonon of Lenharstville, Pa.

Lt. (j.g.) Jeffery Vignery of Goodland, Kan.

Aviation Machinist 2nd Class Wendy Westbrook of Rock Creek, Ohio

Cryptologic Technician 3rd Class Rodney Young of Katy, Texas

MARINE CORPS

Sgt. Richard Pray of Geneseo, Ill.

AIR FORCE

Senior Airman Curtis Towne of Haywood, Calif.

US airplane was probing new warship
MID-AIR COLLISION: An intelligence source says the US Navy plane was attempting to collect data on China's most advanced warship when it collided with a Chinese jet fighter

By Brian Hsu
STAFF REPORTER

A US Navy surveillance aircraft that was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island on Sunday was collecting information on a Russian-made Sovremenny-class destroyer, an intelligence source told the Taipei Times
yesterday.

The propeller-driven EP-3 plane had attempted to fly away after colliding with one of two Chinese jet fighters, the intelligence source said. The collision caused the fighter to crash into the sea.

The source said the EP-3's attempt to fly away was aborted after the second jet fighter opened fire with its machine gun as a warning.

The source -- who had monitored the incident by radar and also listened to cockpit exchanges -- said he believed the EP-3 was forced to land by the Chinese fighter plane at an airport on Hainan.

US officials, on the other hand, have said the collision with the Chinese fighter had caused sufficient damage to the US plane for it to issue a "Mayday" signal and make an emergency landing.

Sunday was not the first time that a US surveillance plane such as the EP-3 has tried to collect information on the most advanced fighting ship in the Chinese navy, which poses a major threat to US aircraft carriers with its
lethal Sunburn anti-ship missiles.

The EP-3 is packed with supersensitive electronic equipment capable of intercepting and analyzing radio and other electronic communications, and is used to track and collect information on enemy ships.

According to the intelligence source, Taiwan's military radar detected the EP-3 flying in circles in the vicinity of the Sovremenny at a low altitude and at a speed of around 250km per hour.

Two Chinese jet fighters taking off from their base in Guangdong Province arrived to intercept and drive away the visitor -- but the US Navy plane did not at first show any intention of leaving.

The two jets flew in formation side by side with the EP-3 for some time before one of the planes found it could not fly as slow as the US plane, which is powered by four turboprop engines

The Chinese jet tried to slow down by making a turn, the source said. Its attempt to do so caused the fighter to bump into the US aircraft and then crash into the sea.

The pilot, as well as the Chinese aircraft, remains missing.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said Sunday's incident may affect arms sales talks between Taiwan and US.

"If the US takes a hard line on the matter, it will have a favorable effect upon the arms talks between Taiwan and the US," said Vice Admiral Kao Yang , deputy administrative defense minister. "But if the matter is solved within a short time, it is hard to say whether it will be good for us or not."

Major Intelligence Coup for China
Charles R. Smith
Monday, April 2, 2001

U.S. forces are on heightened alert after a game of aerial chicken turned deadly over the South China Sea.

A U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries spy plane was forced to land inside China on Sunday after colliding with a People's Liberation Army Air Force jet fighter 62 miles southeast of Hainan Island.

According to Chinese sources, a PLAAF J-8 fighter was lost in the bumping incident and its pilot has not been recovered. The incident set off a firestorm of criticism aimed at both Beijing and the Bush administration.

One source was more than critical of the lack of military cover given to the slow-flying EP-3 four-engine spy plane.

"This aircraft is referred to as a 'high-value asset,' " stated a current U.S. military fighter pilot. "I escorted them in the gulf during operation Desert Shield."

"That there wasn't enough advance warning that there were Chinese fighters airborne and in a position to intercept this aircraft sounds a lot like the recent USS Kitty Hawk incident where the aircraft carrier was overflown by Russian fighter-bombers," stated the U.S. military pilot.

"The pilot should have put this airplane in the drink," he concluded in disgust.

Major Intelligence Coup for the PLA

The capture of the EP-3 Aries spy plane is considered a major victory for the Chinese Army "2nd Branch" of the PLA signals division. In addition, several of the 24 crew members in Chinese custody are described as electronics specialists serving with the elite National Security Agency, or NSA.

"This is a serious incident," stated Chalmers Johnson, president of the Japanese Policy Research Institute. "The thing that struck me the most was that this flight originated from Kadena in Okinawa."

"I doubt we will ever get the plane back, and if we do it will be after the Chinese have taken it apart piece by piece," said Johnson.

"This is very serious," agreed Larry Wortzel, director of the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Institute, in an interview from Seoul, South Korea.

"The U.S. has conducted such routine reconnaissance flights for years. This is nothing like [Francis Gary] Powers. He was over Soviet airspace. This was in international airspace. The PRC has objected to these flights for years and flown close."

"The [Navy] aircraft has a great deal of very sensitive intelligence gear," noted Wortzel.

Airplane Part of NSA Echelon System

The U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries aircraft captured by China is reported to be part of the National Security Agency "Echelon" system. Each Aries aircraft is so expensive that only 12 such planes are in the entire U.S. Navy inventory.

Aries aircraft are equipped with giant onboard computers to sort and retransmit the data directly via secure link to NSA headquarters located at Ft. Meade, Md. The highly modified EP-3 Aries aircraft are also equipped with high-powered infrared video cameras to photograph various targets.

Each Aries is designed to provide fleet and theater commanders worldwide with near-real-time tactical-signals intelligence. The Aries is packed with sensitive receivers and high-gain dish antennas. The captured EP-3 reportedly was on a mission to obtain a wide range of electronic emissions from deep inside Chinese territory.

The normal crew complement is 24: seven officers and 17 enlisted aircrew consists of three pilots, one navigator, three tactical evaluators, and one flight engineer. The remainder of the crew is composed of equipment operators, technicians and mechanics.

The Navy Aries aircraft are also frequently repainted with other squadron insignia, including tail numbers and cartoonlike characters, in an effort to disguise them as the more typical P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft. The covert paint jobs are  performed at an NSA contract facility located outside Dallas-Fort Worth.

Bush Policy Called Insane

According to one Asia expert, the electronic intelligence flights off the Chinese coast are part of a deliberate effort by the Bush administration to draw a sharp Chinese response.

"The U.S. Navy flying spy missions 62 miles from the Chinese coast is simply insane," stated Japan Policy Research Institute president Chalmers Johnson.

"We bait the Chinese with these spy flights, we needle the North Koreans over military movements inside their own borders and antagonize the Russians over an American turned spy while tunneling under their embassy in D.C. This kind of cowboy diplomacy is a form of Clint Eastwood machismo."

"It all adds up to that we are just now starting to pay for the election of George W. Bush," concluded Johnson. "The Chinese were completely justified in taking this action. The Bush administration is deliberately going out of its way to antagonize Beijing."

Sailor Says U.S. Spy Crew Was Moved
By Christopher Bodeen
Associated Press Writer
Monday, April 2, 2001; 3:12 p.m. EDT

BEIJING -- Chinese authorities have moved the 24 crew members of a U.S. Navy surveillance plane to a military guesthouse, a Chinese sailor said Monday, a day after an in-flight collision forced the aircraft to land on a Chinese
island.

The EP-3 plane was standing empty at the military airfield where it landed in the town of Lingshui on Hainan island, said the sailor, who refused to give his name and was contacted by telephone at an adjacent naval facility.

In Washington, President Bush said he was dismayed that diplomats had not been given access to the crew, and demanded their "prompt and safe return." The U.S. Pacific Command said it could not confirm reports Chinese officials may have boarded the U.S. jet, which has sophisticated monitoring equipment.

China has indicated that U.S. access to the crew and aircraft would not be granted before Tuesday night, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. But Chinese representatives have told U.S. officials the crew is safe, McClellan
said."

Three American diplomats flew to Hainan (pronounced HEYE-nahn) island to go to the air base where the EP-3 plane landed Sunday after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet in international airspace, said U.S. Ambassador Joseph
Prueher. China says the fighter crashed and that a search was under way for its pilot.

U.S. officials said the United States is keeping three Navy destroyers in the vicinity of Hainan island instead of continuing their journey home from the Persian Gulf.

Chinese leaders appeared to be trying to decide on a response.

In Paris, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said Monday that he hopes an "adequate solution" is found to the dispute. "Our plane did not strike the American plane but rather the contrary," Tang said after meeting with French
President Jacques Chirac. He expressed hope, however, that the accident would not strain Sino-U.S. relations.

"The American side has explained time and again to our ambassador that this incident will not influence the general interests between China and the United States," Tang said.

In London, a military expert warned that U.S. intelligence secrets and technology could end up in Russian hands if Chinese officials have managed to board the plane.

"It's catastrophic for the U.S. if the Chinese have managed to gain access to the aircraft and if they've managed to obtain access to the computers and the hard disks," said Paul Beaver, spokesman for Jane's Information Group,
publisher of the respected Jane's Defense Weekly.

"The Chinese will probably sell the information to the Russians, so it means everyone will have access to one of the most sophisticated intelligence-gathering airplanes in the world," Beaver said.

Standard procedure under the circumstances would call for the EP-3 crew to destroy as much of the plane's highly sensitive surveillance equipment as possible once it landed on Chinese territory, a U.S. official said, speaking
on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. military says the plane was on a routine surveillance flight when two Chinese F-8 fighters intercepted it Sunday morning. The EP-3 collided with one of the fighters about 60 miles southeast of Hainan.

The unarmed propeller-driven EP-3 took off from the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. It carried a crew of 22 Navy personnel, one Air Force officer and one Marine.

The EP-3 is about the size of a Boeing 737 commercial jetliner and can monitor radio, radar, telephone, e-mail and fax traffic, according to defense experts.

Military experts say such U.S. flights to monitor China's military are routine. Confrontations have been reported in the past.

On March 23, a Chinese warship intercepted a U.S. Navy survey vessel in the Yellow Sea, said an American military official. The USS Bowditch was outside Chinese territorial waters but inside the area regarded by China as its exclusive economic zone.

The Chinese vessel followed the Bowditch until it left that area, said the military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

China has accused the pilot of the EP-3 of intruding into Chinese airspace by landing without permission after the collision. However, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Beijing insisted the pilot followed "commonly accepted principles of international law" for an emergency landing.

Ordinary Chinese expressed anger and outrage at the collision Sunday. Few doubted the official explanation blaming the U.S. pilot. Discussion forums on Web sites were filled with demands to seize the American plane and jail the
crew.

Public anger may have been increased by the failure of state media to report on a U.S. offer to help look for the missing Chinese pilot. Some complained that the U.S. government was more concerned with its uninjured plane crew
than a missing Chinese.

"We won this battle. Even though we lost a fighter jet and its pilot is missing, we have 24 war prisoners and a surveillance plane fully equipped with the most advanced radar and electronic equipment," said a message on the
Web site Sina.com signed "East Don't."

Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, rejected the Chinese account blaming the American pilot. Blair said the faster, more nimble Chinese plane bumped into the larger, slower American aircraft.

Officials at Hainan government offices and the Lingshui military airport refused to comment, saying they had been ordered not to give information to reporters.

At least six reporters for Hong Kong and foreign news organizations who traveled to Lingshui were detained by police and soldiers and ordered out of the area.

China to use crew as 'hostages'?
Expert: Beijing maneuvering to force defecting PLA colonel's extradition
By Jon Dougherty
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

At least one China expert believes Beijing may be using 24 U.S. crewmen -- from a Navy EP-3 "Orion" surveillance plane it now holds -- as "hostages" to force Washington to extradite a former People's Liberation Army senior colonel back to the mainland.

Yang Chih-heng, deputy director of the Strategic and International Studies under the private Taiwan Research Institute, a think tank, said the timing of an incident involving a Chinese F-8 fighter, which "bumped" the U.S. plane
during a spy mission Saturday night, was "unusual."

EP-3 "Orion"

"Don't you feel the timing of the event was unusual, to intercept a surveillance plane on a routine mission?" Yang said, according to Agence France Presse on Monday.

Yang said he believes Beijing may use the 24 crewmen aboard the plane - one Air Force, one Marine, and 22 Navy personnel, including three women - as "hostages" to push for the extradition of PLA Senior Colonel Xu Junping, who
defected to the U.S. in December while visiting New York City with a Chinese military delegation.

Reports have said Xu has provided invaluable military intelligence information to the Pentagon about Chinese military capabilities, the PLA and the entire mainland's military infrastructure.

The reports, while unconfirmed thus far, say, "Xu had brought with him confidential information which allowed .the Bush administration to have a better picture of the PLA," said Agence France Presse.

"Beijing may use the plane's . crew as hostages in seeking the return of Xu," Yang said. "The possibility must not be ruled out."

So far, U.S. officials have been unable to speak with any crewmembers. China has blocked U.S. diplomats, who have traveled to Hainan Island where the plane is being held, from gaining access to them.

The EP-3 was forced to declare a "mayday" and land at a Chinese air base on the Island Saturday night after being "bumped" in midair by the Chinese fighter, the Pentagon and the White House have said.

A pair of F-8s had been sent airborne to "shadow," or intercept, the American Navy plane.

Shenyang Chinese F-8 "Finback" fighter of the type sent to shadow the U.S. Navy's EP-3 Orion on Saturday.

China has said its fighter crashed after the incident, and that the pilot has yet to be recovered. Beijing has also blamed the incident on the U.S. plane.

Yang said the incident could be an isolated case, but added, "Beijing may send a clear warning signal to Washington, through the aggressive attitude in intercepting the routine U.S. patrol mission."

"They may try to tell Washington the PLA is now armed with capability to counter against any attack from the U.S.," he added.

Other reports in the U.S. on Monday tend to substantiate Yang's observations.

The Washington Times said senior U.S. intelligence and military officials have noted an increase in "aggressiveness" among China's forces in recent months, in response to otherwise routine surveillance and naval missions performed by U.S. forces.

Saturday's aerial incident "occurred a week after another confrontation between a Chinese warship and a U.S. Navy surveillance ship in the Yellow Sea described by Navy officials as a 'threatening' Chinese action against the ship in international waters," the Times said.

In addition, Pentagon officials told the paper that China has stepped up intercepts of EP-3 Orions, using F-8s sometimes armed with air-to-air missiles.

"They've been flying within 20 feet of the EP-3s," one official told the Times.

Meanwhile, Fox News reported that ordinary Chinese, in street interviews, were outraged by the incident, and most vehemently criticized the U.S.

Fox News quoted one young Chinese man, who was dressed in a Western-style business suit, as saying the Chinese government should take a hard-line approach against the U.S.

"We can't not take action. If they want to fight a war, we'll give them a war," the man said.

Yang said the incident and the added strain in U.S.-Sino relations could make it more difficult for the Bush administration to decide to sell Taiwan the advanced weapons it has asked for, including Aegis-equipped destroyers.

"Washington may not sell the advanced weaponry Taipei desires in the coming arms talks," scheduled for mid-April, "but it may do so next year," Yang said.

Hainan incident: Foreign and domestic entanglements
http://atimes.com/editor/CD03Ba01.html

South China Sea near Hainan Island, Sunday morning, approximately 9:10 am local time.

Chinese version: An American spy plane is shadowed by two fighter jets. The American plane maneuvers abruptly and rams and downs one of the fighters. The US plane makes an unauthorized landing at Hainan Island's Lingzhui
military airfield. "The US side has total responsibility for this event," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that it had made a "serious" protest and that, "The US plane abruptly diverted toward the
Chinese planes, and its head and left wing collided with one of the Chinese planes, causing the Chinese plane to crash."

US version: An Okinawa-based US Navy EP-3 electronic surveillance plane (crew of 24) on a routine mission in international airspace is shadowed by two Chinese F-8 fighters, is bumped accidentally by one of the Chinese
fighters, sustains damage to its nose cone and left wing and makes an emergency landing at Lingzhui. "It's pretty obvious who bumped who," said Admiral Dennis Blair, head of the US Pacific Command in Hawaii. He told reporters that the Chinese fighters, similar to US F-16s, fly much faster and have more maneuverability than the EP-3, which is about the size of a Boeing 737 and basically flies in a straight path.

Well, make up your own mind who's telling the truth. But if the Chinese Foreign Ministry is, it doesn't exactly speak well for the skillls of Chinese fighter pilots. The EP-3 is a lumbering, unarmed four-engine propeller-driven plane. For the American pilot to deliberately have downed the F-8 fighter would either be quite a feat or speak volumes about the PLA air arm's military preparedness. Watch out for a PLA version of the event "correcting" the Foreign Ministry's.

For any number of reasons, the Hainan incident comes at a most inopportune time. Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen has just concluded a Washington visit and met there with US President George W Bush. While the two leaders agreed
to disagree on a variety of issues, both sides viewed the outcome as basically positive. But there are several present irritants in US-China relations - the arrest and detention of two US-related professors by mainland authorities, the ongoing 10-day Taiwan visit of the Dalai Lama, and most importantly, the possible sale of advanced US weapons systems to Taiwan - which in combination could lead to a serious deterioration in relations if the Hainan incident is mishandled by either side.

The potential for such mishandling is real enough based on respective domestic political considerations.

On the Chinese side, President Jiang Zemin, Premier Zhu Rongji, and Vice Premier Qian Qichen must exercise caution so as not to hand hardliners the argument that they are soft on the American aggressors - charges which could
gain popular appeal and threaten orderly leadership transition. As Francesco Sisci writes in the accompanying analysis, the Beijing leaders cleverly appear to be dealing with the problem by declaring victory in Hainan: The US
intruder plane was forced down.

On the US side, anti-China hardliners will push for the speediest return of the American crew and plane and take anything else as an argument for pushing for maximum weapons systems deliveries to Taiwan, accompanied by
shrill human rights violations charges.

In light of these domestic political factors, speedy resolution of the Hainan incident would appear to be in the best interest of both sides. To all appearances, President Bush prior to the incident was aiming for a compromise on weapons sales to Taiwan: some advanced systems would be sold, but sale of the Aegis radar system would be postponed. From Beijing's standpoint, perfunctory protests aside, that would have been an acceptable deal. More broadly, neither Bush nor Jiang need foreign entanglements at this stage in their presidencies. Bush wants to concentrate on reinvigorating the US economy as without that he would be perceived as having failed in his key self-appointed task and be seen as a weak president with commensurate lack of clout in foreign affairs. Jiang as well has economic priorities and does not want his legacy threatened by a no-win confrontation with the US.

So, is early resolution of the Hainan affair in sight? As the incident itself demonstrates, accidents happen. Further hiccups should not be ruled out. But both sides' interests point toward deliberate efforts at damage control.

Distributed through the P.O.W. NETWORK in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.