Chinese President Jiang Zemin said Tuesday that he has on several occasions given orders to search for and rescue at any price the missing Chinese pilot at Sunday's collision between a US military surveillance plane and a Chinese military jet.

Jiang made the remarks while meeting with visiting Prime Minister Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al-Thani of the State of Qatar.

"It is the US plane, in violation of flying rules, that made dangerous moves, bumped into and destroyed our plane and caused our pilot missing," he said.

"What is most precious is human life," he said. "I am deeply concerned about the safety of the missing pilot and has given the instruction for many times to make utmost efforts in the search- and-rescue work," he said.

(Xinhua 04/03/2001)