U.S. may resume spy flights by end of week

Footage released by the Pentagon on Tuesday shows a Chinese pilot holding up a message and gesturing to a U.S. plane

By From Jamie McIntyre CNN Washington

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States will resume its surveillance flights off the coast of China, perhaps as soon as the end of this week, CNN has learned.

Administration sources said U.S. crews will keep to a northern route, along China's east coast, where Chinese fighters have been less aggressive than those over the South China Sea.

The U.S. surveillance flights were halted after the April 1 collision between the Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter jet.

VIDEO New video released by the Pentagon shows a Chinese pilot flying so close to a U.S. plane his hand gestures are visible Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    IN-DEPTH U.S.-China Collision: A diplomatic solution  • About freighter returning EP-3  • Look: Inside the EP-3  • Facts about the EP-3  • Map: Locating the incident  • Big picture: High stakes  • Classroom discussion guide  • Historical US-China timeline  • Whidbey arrival images  • Crew speaks out  • Crew's return images

The news of the resumption of the surveillance flights came as U.S. and Beijing officials were preparing to discuss the fallout from the collision. China has called for an end to such flights.

Administration sources say that when U.S. reconnaissance flights resume they will first fly a pattern to the north, where the Chinese fighter pilots have generally kept their distance, and avoid for a while the southern route that takes the planes near Hainan Island, where the 24 U.S. crew members made an emergency landing and were held for 11 days before being released.

That plan will allow for land-based U.S. fighter escort jets to fly from Korea or Japan to protect the flights, if China won't agree to back off. That kind of fighter support requires constant aerial refueling, something that is difficult to do from an aircraft carrier.

The Pentagon says the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk will continue toward Guam. Pentagon officials insist there are no plans to turn it around to send any signal to the Chinese.

The Pentagon is generally opposed to the idea of escorting U.S. surveillance planes that are flying legally in international airspace. Whether the option of armed escorts is employed as a last resort, officials in Washington say, depends on the "tone and tenor" of this week's meetings with the Chinese.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, released more video tapes that U.S. Defense officials say document the aggressive and dangerous intercepts conducted by Chinese pilots based at Hainan Island since late December.

In one tape from January 30, Wang Wei -- the pilot who collided with the U.S. EP-3 -- can be seen making gestures and holding up a paper with what appears to be his e-mail address at YEAH.NET.

The Pentagon is singling out the pilots from Wang's squadron as some of the worst offenders when it comes to harassing U.S. flights.

"We have no problem with intercepts of our reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft, as long as it is done in a safe manner," said Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley.

"The issue is the overly aggressive flying. And the squadrons that come out to do intercepts to the east coast of China do not appear to have the same aggressive flying style as those along the south coast," he said.

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U.S. Navy factfile: The EP-3
U.S. Dept of Defense
White House

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