"We are working hard to bring them home through intensive discussions with the Chinese government. We think we're making progress," Bush said of the US crew in remarks at an awards ceremony, as international diplomatic efforts intensified.

Following a briefing with the Pentagon, CIA and State Department, US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner said the United States and China were working on a written "common understanding" on the incident to be reviewed and agreed upon by Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Warner said the letter would include regret for the loss of the Chinese pilot, who was missing and presumed dead after his fighter collided on Sunday with a US reconnaissance plane. But Warner said the letter would not contain a US apology, as demanded by Beijing.

"I would say that the question of an apology is not in any way to be incorporated in the letter," the Virginia Republican told reporters on Capitol Hill.

Chinese Ambassador Yang Jiechi was set to meet with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage at the State Department later on Friday. Officials said China requested the meeting.

CHINA ALLOWS US TO VISIT CREW

A US official met for an hour with the 21 men and three women stayed on Hainan Island. It was the second such visit but the first without a Chinese official present.

US Defense Attache Neal Sealock told reporters in Haikou, the island's capital, the crew was in "great spirits."

"They're looking forward to getting released from their current situation and returning home," he said.

China blames the US plane, which was on a spying mission over the South China Sea, for veering into its jet.

On Friday a Chinese colleague who was flying in a separate plane on the same mission told China's official Xinhua news agency the US spy plane had made "a big move" toward missing pilot Wang Wei's jet before its propellers shredded the F-8's tail fin.

The Pentagon has said the larger US plane, loaded with sophisticated spy gear, was too slow and ungainly to make that kind of sudden movement and cause the crash.

Bush and Powell have both stated publicly they "regret" the loss of the Chinese pilot and plane but they have stopped short of any apology.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday, "US expressions of regret are a step in the right direction toward resolving this issue."

But she added: "China's position is clear: The United States must admit full responsibility and apologize to the Chinese people and it must take sincere and effective measures to prevent a similar incident from happening again."

SINO-US TIES STRESSED

The White House said Bush had not spoken with China's president, on a tour of Latin America. On Thursday, Jiang restated his demand for an apology from Washington.

"I have visited a lot of countries and seen that it is normal for people to ask forgiveness or say 'excuse me' when they collide in the street," said Jiang, early in his tour of Chile.

"But the American planes come to the border of our country and do not ask forgiveness. Is this behavior acceptable?"

Jiang stressed, however, the importance of US-China ties. "I want to emphasize that Chinese and US leaders should manage this situation with maximum interest in bilateral relations in order to find an adequate solution."

(China Daily 04/07/2001)