U.S. officials warned on Sunday of damage to long-term relations with Beijing over the detention of 24 air crew as china's politically powerful military underscored a hard-line stance that risked prolonging the crisis. With china insisting on a U.S. apology for the collision between a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter and the United States continuing to refuse, the firm positions maintained a week-old standoff despite a diplomatic search for a solution.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said there was no evidence of U.S. responsibility for the crash over the South China Sea that left the Chinese pilot and his F-8 jet missing. The EP-3 surveillance plane made an emergency landing on China's Hainan island and has been detained since yesterday. ''The relationship is being damaged,'' Powell told the ''Fox News Sunday'' program. ''In order for the damage to be undone and for no further damage to occur, we've got to bring this matter to a close as soon as possible.''
Powell said China and the United States were still in ''intense negotiations'' and ''things are moving along'' albeit more slowly than hoped toward ending the worst foreign relations crisis of the Bush administration. Bureau Report