American diplomats said on Saturday the crew of a US spy plane staying in China were being treated well as Washington rejected another demand from Beijing for an apology.
"I was able to validate once again, their treatment, their spirits, their wellness," US Defence Attache Brigadier General Neal Sealock told a news conference after he and other US diplomats visited the crew for an hour.
"They very much appreciated the e-mails that they have been allowed to receive from home," he said, after visiting the crew at military-run Nanhang No 1 Guesthouse in central Haikou.
The meeting after midnight was the third after visits with the crew on Tuesday and again on Friday in Hainan.
As the international standoff approached its second week, China said a US apology for the mid-air collision between their US Navy EP-3 aircraft and a Chinese fighter was of "utmost importance". The fighter and pilot were lost in the crash.
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Mary Ellen Countryman reiterated the Bush administration's regrets over the missing Chinese pilot and plane, but repeatedly declined to address the fresh demand for an apology.
"Our position is unchanged," she said.
As part of stepped-up diplomatic exchanges, the Chinese ambassador in Washington, Yang Jiechi, met Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on Friday at China's request.
Xinhua news agency said Yang gave Armitage a letter from Vice Premier Qian Qichen to US Secretary of State Colin Powell demanding Washington apologize to the Chinese people. "This is of utmost importance in solving the problem," it said.
"Up to now the American attitude is still unacceptable to the Chinese side, and the Chinese people are extremely dissatisfied with this," the letter said.
(China Daily 04/08/2001)
