China hails U.S.-Chinese agreement as victory

From CNN Beijing Bureau Chief Rebecca MacKinnon

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Chinese media on Wednesday hailed the U.S.-China agreement to release crew members of a detained U.S. Navy spy plane as a victory.

Chinese state-run television broadcast videotape of interviews of unidentified Chinese people on the streets of Beijing saying, "We've won, we've gotten the United States to apologize. We've gotten them to say they're sorry. We've come out on top in this."

VIDEO CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon reports that Chinese hardliners feel U.S. got off too easy Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

The Chinese government is calling the agreement a victory as well, even though the U.S. letter that sealed the agreement failed to include any admission of responsibility. Beijing had been insisting not only that the U.S. apologize, but also that it take responsibility for the April 1 collision between the U.S. plane and a Chinese F-8 fighter jet that sent the Chinese pilot and his aircraft crashing into the South China Sea.

The way in which the word "sorry" was used in the U.S. letter to Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan was not used to take responsibility for the collision. The letter said the U.S. was "very sorry" for the loss of the Chinese pilot and addressed the apology to the Chinese people and the family of the missing Chinese pilot, Wang Wei.

The letter also said the U.S. government was "very sorry" that the entering of Chinese airspace "did not have verbal clearance." The U.S. plane performed an emergency landing on the Chinese island of Hainan after it declared "mayday."

An official Chinese statement about the U.S. letter fails to mention the emergency landing but simply says the U.S. has said it is "very sorry" for entering Chinese airspace.

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