An article carried in Madagascar Tribune yesterday condemned the US military surveillance plane for bumping into a Chinese fighter over China’s exclusive coastal economic zone.
It said that Chinese fighters were entirely justified in tracking and monitoring the U.S. spy plane, while the US plane causing the Chinese jet to crash was a provocative act, for which the US should bear full responsibility.
According to the article, the U.S. plane intruded into the Chinese territorial airspace and landed at a Chinese airport without permission. “This act violated the international law and seriously infringed upon the Chinese sovereignty. The U.S should apologize to the Chinese people,” it said.
It hoped that China and the U.S. will reasonably handle the serious incident through the diplomatic channel, so as not to aggravate the intense Sino-US relationship.
(Xinhua 04/05/2001)
