As many as 98 per cent of Chinese readers said the US administration should apologize for what the Navy EP-3 did, while less than 40 per cent US readers said it was US at fault and ought to apologize, a just-concluded survey by chinadaily.com.cn disclosed.

At the same time, 81 per cent of Americans who responded to the survey said the current stand-off would damage bilateral relations, followed by 60 per cent of readers outside US and China predicting the same tendency. Only 53 per of Chinese answering the poll thought the stalemate could have damaging effect on the ties.

In total, 2,249 readers responded to the chinadaily.com.cn poll, taken at a time when the Chinese government demands a full apology against US reluctance. Of the respondents, 35 per cent from the US, 35 per cent from China, and the left 30 per cent from other regions of the world.

The poll showed that 93 per cent of Chinese, remaining in a temper of anger, thought it's not enough for the Bush administration to simply "regret" over the incident. However, about 60 per cent of Americans think a "regret" is enough.

Commenting on whether the 24 US crew members staying in China should go back home before a formal US apology, 79 per cent of US readers said yes, while 83 per cent of Chinese respondents picked "no", showing a wide difference.

Meanwhile, 41 per cent of the readers from other regions said the Chinese side should release the crewmen before an investigation showing a final result, while 59 per cent disagreed.

On the question of whether continued aerial espionage over China is righteous, 90 per cent of Chinese, joined by 66 per cent of people from other regions, said the US must stop any form of surveillance nearing China. However, 59 per cent of US readers said the spy flight does not matter.

On the hypothesis of Chinese aerial surveillance nearing US west coastline, 59 per cent of US respondents said ``go-ahead'', while 25 per cent said ``no''. In comparison, 47 per cent of Chinese said aerial spying on US is unacceptable, because it is unfriendly and immoral.

Furthermore, on the assumption of a Chinese pilot landing on a US military airport after the collision leading to an EP-3 in debris and the missing of US crewmen, 82 per cent of Chinese noted the US will seek apology from China, while 47 per cent of US readers said their country must seek Chinese apology.

(Chinadaily.com.cn 04/10/2001)