Beijing's pilots decry
U.S. tactics

Chinese pilots say U.S. counterparts who fly surveillance missions near the mainland repeatedly engage in "dangerous maneuvers" that eventually led to the downing of a Chinese F-8 fighter and a U.S. Navy EP-3E a week ago.

"In order to shake loose our shadowing, the American planes have created very dangerous circumstances by hiding in clouds, slowing down or suddenly speeding up, suddenly rising or falling in altitude or suddenly veering sharply in different directions," the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday, quoting senior People's Liberation Army Air Force sources.

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Beijing claims the lumbering EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane deliberately veered into one of two Chinese jets shadowing its movements in international airspace, a claim denied by the United States.

The report quoted three Chinese pilots and appeared to be aimed at countering U.S. intelligence reports that Chinese pilots have increasingly engaged in "aggressive behavior" while shadowing U.S. spy flights for the past several months.

Last week, WorldNetDaily reported that former Defense Secretary William Cohen and other congressional aides said the Pentagon noticed the increased aggressiveness a year ago but did not report it to the Clinton administration until December.

In turn, Clinton failed to inform Congress of the changes, WND reported.

But the Xinhua report said Chinese pilots discounted that and instead said U.S. planes had a history of sudden banks and turns, rapid ascensions and descents, and other tactics that often jeopardized Chinese fighter pilots.

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Zeng Chen, a grade-one fighter pilot, said the tactic of U.S. spy planes to slow down to speeds as low as 250 kilometers an hour (150 miles an hour) especially angered Chinese pilots and was seen as an attempt by the U.S. planes to stall the engines of the quicker and more nimble Chinese fighter jets, Xinhua reported.

"What angers me is that the special capabilities of the Jian (F-8) fighter jets are revealed at high speeds and high altitudes, while the U.S. EP-3 surveillance plane is propeller-driven ... and always slows down in order to escape our shadowing," Zeng told the news service.

Meanwhile, Gen. Zhang Wannian, vice chairman of China's central military commission, said Monday that the U.S. surveillance flights must stop.

"To avoid such incidents from happening again in the future, the United States should give up further surveillance activities near China's coast," Zhang said following a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

WND said last week that sources said U.S. surveillance flights near China had already been suspended. Sources confirmed that again yesterday, adding that surveillance flights over North Korea had increased, however.

Also, WorldNetDaily reported Wednesday that overseas sources said the remaining Chinese F-8 fighter fired near the EP-3E as it tried to leave the area, after colliding with the first jet.

Yesterday, the South China Morning Post said Chinese sources confirmed that the remaining pilot requested permission to fire on the fleeing U.S. plane, but permission was denied. Instead, that report said the pilot was instructed to force the U.S. plane to land at a Chinese air base on Hainan island.

The Pentagon has neither confirmed nor denied those reports.

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