China media steps up anti-U.S. message

Xinhua's homepage leads U.S.-bashing

In this story: Organized meetings Uniformity RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Rose Tang
CNN Writer

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Chinese media has stepped up its anti-U.S. sentiment in the wake of the collision between a Chinese fighter and a U.S. spy plane.

Many newspapers on Wednesday carried front-page articles featuring China's president Jiang Zemin's demand for the U.S. to apologize and halt surveillance fights to China.

The State-run Xinhua News Agency on its homepage posted a photo of the crippled U.S. EP-3E Aries II with captions: "Hegemony goes wild; Evidence as solid as iron mountains".

Beijing Youth Daily said the newspaper's hotline had been inundated with calls from readers who were outraged by "the U.S. bullying behavior".

It quoted university students and taxi drivers, who demanded the U.S. apologize for the incident.

The Sichuan Daily accused the U.S. of being "a bully who lodges complaints first" and "spitting out mad words" by demanding China release the 24 American crew members of the EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane.

Organized meetings

The newspaper reported that students at universities in Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, organized meetings on campus to "demand fairness from the U.S.".

It also quoted mayor of Suining of Sichuan as saying "the masses should convert their anger to strength, and put their patriotic passions to the construction of the country's economy".

Sichuan Daily on its website posted a comprehensive special about the incident, including 100 articles, many photos of the planes, graphics of the collision, and even details of the Chinese company that made the aircraft.

It reported that an aircraft manufacturer in Chengdu held emergency meetings after the collision with managers and workings vowing to speed up the development of Chinese fighter jets to "strengthen Chinese defense might".

The paper quoted the Washington Post newspaper in a report headlined: "China has its reason, general U.S. public says".

Many newspapers carried a story about "cadres and masses in Beijing, Shanghai and Hainan condemning "the U.S. hegemonic acts".

Uniformity

However, all the voices in various publications resonate with the tone of Beijing, which controls all media outlets.

A Chinese journalist based in Shanxi province told CNN on condition of anonymity that he and his colleagues were not allowed to report the domestic reaction to the incident because Beijing had instructed local media only to carry reports from official Xinhua News Agency.

"Who wants to get into trouble? The government said the tone should be uniform," he said.

"The Chinese government has been too soft, because it has too many desires to get out of poverty. If Mao Zedong were still alive, he wouldn't be so afraid of the Americans. It's so depressing," he said.

Jiang demands U.S. apology for plane collision
April 4, 2001
U.S. plane crew send messages back home
April 4, 2001

Xinhua News Agency
Beijing Youth Daily
Sichuan Daily
PLA Daily

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