Hainan Island incident
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| Hainan Island incident | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The EP-3E Aries II on the ground on Hainan Island |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 China |
 United States |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 2 J-8IIM aircraft | 1 EP-3E surveillance aircraft | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 J-8 collided, pilot missing | 1 EP-3 heavily damaged, crash-landed, and crewmembers were captured | ||||||
The Hainan Island incident was the April 1, 2001, collision between a United States Navy EP-3E signals reconnaissance aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8IIM fighter jet that resulted in an international incident between the United States and China. The EP-3, assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) had been operating about 70 miles (110 km) away from the Chinese island of Hainan, when the craft was intercepted by two J-8IIM fighters. A collision resulted between the wing of the EP-3 and one of the J-8s, which caused the death of the J-8's pilot, Wang Wei, while the EP-3 was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan.
The international status of the incident's location is a large source of controversy; the Chinese claimed it as part of their "air territory" where the US claimed it was "international airspace" as per United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The dispute is also mired in controversy of the EP-3's earlier overflight of various South China Sea islands which are claimed by China (among other national powers). To date no official resolution on the territorial status has been settled by the US, China or the UN.
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[edit] In the air
At about 09:15 local time, toward the end of the EP-3's six hour mission, two Chinese J-8s approached the EP-3, about 70 miles (110 km) away from the Chinese island of Hainan. One of the J-8s, Wang's fighter, collided with the surveillance aircraft after several intercept maneuvers. The J-8 was chopped in half, while the nosecone and a propeller of the EP-3 were severely damaged.
Wang ejected after the collision, but was never found and was declared dead. Meanwhile, the EP-3E made an emergency landing without authorization of the Chinese military at a military airfield in Hainan.
[edit] Cause of collision
The cause of the collision and the assignment of blame is a matter of dispute. The American government claimed that the Chinese jet, being piloted by Wang, bumped the wing of the larger, slower, and less maneuverable EP-3E. Onboard footage taken from previous missions revealed that American reconnaissance crews had been intercepted by Wang before. During one such incident, Wang is shown approaching so close that his email address could be clearly read from a sign that he had been holding up. The Chinese government has stated that it was the American plane that swerved into the flight path and rammed the J-8. This claim can not be verified since the Chinese government refuses to release data from the black boxes of either plane, both of which are in its possession.
[edit] On the ground
After landing, the U.S. aircraft crew proceeded to destroy sensitive equipment on board the aircraft such as listening devices, as per U.S. Navy protocol. After completing these procedures, they disembarked from the plane. Kept under armed guard, they were taken to a Chinese military barracks where they were detained and interrogated.
Three United States diplomats were immediately sent to Hainan island to meet with the crew and assess their conditions, and to negotiate their release. Their first opportunity to meet with the crew came the day after they landed, and they met with them three more times after that.
The crew of 24 was detained until April 11, shortly after the U.S. issued the "letter of the two sorries" to the Chinese.
[edit] Letter of the two sorries
The "Letter of the two sorries" was the letter delivered by the United States Ambassador Joseph Prueher to Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan of the People's Republic of China to defuse the Hainan Island incident in April 2001. The delivery of the letter led to the release of the U.S. crew from Chinese custody, as well as the return of the disassembled plane.
The letter stated that the United States was "very sorry" for the death of Chinese pilot Wang Wei, and they also apologized for entering Chinese airspace and performing the emergency landing without authorization. Significantly, the United States did not apologize for conducting signals reconnaissance off the coast of China, nor did the United States explicitly accept responsibility for the collision, only expressing that they were sorry for the loss of Wang Wei and "sincere regret over (China's) missing pilot and aircraft."
The letter itself was written in English; an official translation into Chinese was not offered by the U.S. government because the Chinese language has several words representing various degrees of "sorry", and the U.S. government did not want to misrepresent itself by choosing the wrong word. Hence, interpretation of the correct translation of "sorry" was left to the Chinese government.[1]
[edit] Aftermath
The crew returned to the United States via Hawaii after their release on April 11. The plane, however, was not released until July 3 when the last piece arrived in the United States. China had refused to permit repair of the EP-3 to allow it to leave under its own power[2] and the plane had to be dismantled [3]). The Chinese military did board the plane, but it is not known if they retrieved any sensitive information, or how effective the crew's destruction of the onboard technology was. The EP-3's pilot, Shane Osborn, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism and extraordinary achievement in flight while the J-8 pilot was hailed as a hero in China. The Chinese state-run media still maintain that the plane was in territorial waters at the time of the incident, and that the collision may have been intentional while the U.S. government contends the aircraft was in international airspace and that the collision was caused by the Chinese pilot.
In addition to paying for the dismantling and shipping of the EP-3, the United States, ostensibly to pay for the 11 days' food and lodging supplied by the Chinese government to the plane's crew, agreed to pay the Chinese government $34,000.[4]
[edit] Further reading
[edit] See also
- U-2 Crisis of 1960
- Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253 (1968)
- Gulf of Sidra incident (1981)
- Gulf of Sidra incident (1989)
