"We have been here since the incident occurred, and have only had four or five hours of sleep every day and irregular meals," said one of the servicemen engaged in the search. "But we are more concerned about Wang Wei, and have been worrying about whether he would be able to survive this ordeal."

According to Lu Zhiyi, the commander of the rescue centre, the search is the largest in scale ever executed by the Chinese navy in terms of number of people mobilized, search area and duration. By Friday, 757,00 square kilometres of sea area had been searched.

"Although hope of Wang Wei surviving is getting slim, we will continue to do our utmost to find him," said Lu.

President Jiang Zemin asked Defence Minister Chi Haotian to visit Ruan Guoqin, Wang Wei's wife, and to convey his sympathy to her.

Chi, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, also conveyed sympathy from Premier Zhu Rongji and Vice-President Hu Jintao to Ruan on Saturday.

He visited Zhao Yu as well, the other pilot, who witnessed the mid-air collision on April 1.

Ruan has fallen ill since the incident. Chi urged that the best doctors be dispatched to take care of her.

He praised Wang and Zhao for their courage in safeguarding the country's sovereignty and the nation's dignity, saying that their behaviour reflected the aspirations of the whole nation and the armed forces.

The general pointed out that the US side should take full responsibility for the collision, and the Chinese armed forces and people will not accept it if the U.S. government attempts to evade its responsibility.

US should bear full responsibility

Chi said that he has read a letter written by Ruan to US President George W. Bush and called it a "well-written." He said that the whole armed forces and nation support Ruan, and they will turn their indignation into initiative to build a strong country with a powerful armed force.

Chi vowed again that the country will continue to search for the missing pilot at all costs.

Meanwhile, people at home and abroad are continuing to condemn the US for its acts.

In the cities of Tianjin, Zhengzhou and Jinan, law experts, government officials, students and scholars have all accused the US Government of lacking basic humanitarianism.

"Facts have proved that the US side should bear full responsibility for the incident," said a Beijing-based aeronautics expert on Saturday.

Chen Fushan, a scholar with a Beijing-based Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, was indignant when he learned that the US Government had not yet admitted its due responsibility and apologized to the Chinese, but rather had sought every excuse available for the incident.

Chen has conducted a detailed analysis from the technological aspect on the whole process of the collision between the US and Chinese military planes, which occurred in the airspace over China's exclusive economic zone near Hainan Island on April 1.

"First of all, the damaged antennas under the wing of the US plane were leaning backward, which demonstrates that the outer side of the left wing of the US plane was one of the first parts to bump into the Chinese plane," Chen said.

"Then came the airscrew of the second engine on the left wing, which has been damaged and deformed.

"Lastly, the head of the US plane knocked the tail of the Chinese plane, and the cover of the radar antenna on the head was knocked off," Chen said.

The above damaged parts of the US plane were all located on its left-hand side and front parts, which show that the US plane abruptly veered towards the Chinese plane while the latter was flying alongside, Chen said.

"It was the US plane that violated flight rules, and this fact is clear enough," Chen emphasized.

The tail of a plane comprises a vertical wing and a horizontal one, which play a vital role in manipulating and controlling the flight. For any plane with fixed wings, it is impossible for the pilot to control the plane when its tail wing has been seriously damaged.

Chen said that the US plane is several times bigger than the Chinese plane in terms of both weight and size, and the US plane bumped the Chinese plane several times, causing it seriously damage and leading to the crash.

"As a professional working on aeronautical engineering technology for decades, I have to condemn the US plane's role in the collision," Chen said, calling upon the US side to face up to the facts, shoulder their responsibilities and offer a fair and reasonable explanation to the Chinese people.

Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay area have expressed their support to China, which is demanding the US Government apologize for the spy plane incident.

Local Chinese-language talk shows have been inundated with irate listeners and viewers and more than 90 per cent of callers to local radio and television stations have criticized the US Government's handling of the incident, San Francisco Chronicle, a local publication, said on Thursday.

The collision of a US reconnaissance plane with a Chinese fighter jet"is not an isolated case," a Cuban newspaper said on Friday.

The incident, which left the pilot missing, can not be viewed as an isolated case, and the US Government has declared China as a strategic competitor, the Cuban daily Rebellious Youth said.

"The incident reflects the dangers in a world where so-called Washington security interests justify any venture," said the report.

(agencies 04/09/2001)