Hainan Island incident

Hainan Island incident
The EP-3E Aries II on the ground on Hainan Island
Date April 1, 2001 Location Hainan Island, China and the South China Sea Result American crew detained, later released
Combatants
China	United States
Strength
2 J-8IIM aircraft	1 EP-3E surveillance aircraft
Casualties
1 J-8 destroyed, pilot killed	1 EP-3 damaged and unflyable, later recovered, crew survived

The Hainan Island incident was the April 1, 2001, collision between a United States Navy EP-3E signals reconnaissance aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8IIM fighter jet that resulted in an international incident between the United States and China. The EP-3, assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) had been operating about 70 miles (110 km) away from the Chinese island of Hainan, when the craft was intercepted by two J-8IIM fighters. A collision resulted between the wing of the EP-3 and one of the J-8s, which caused the death of the J-8's pilot, Wang Wei, while the EP-3 was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan. The international status of the incident's location is a large source of controversy; the Chinese claimed it as part of their "air territory" where the US claimed it was "international airspace" as per UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The dispute is also mired in controversy of the EP-3's earlier overflight of various South China Sea islands which are claimed by China (among other national powers). To date no official resolution on the territorial status has been settled by the US, China or the UN.

In the air

Shenyang J-8

At about 09:15 local time, toward the end of the EP-3's six hour mission, two Chinese J-8s approached the EP-3, about 70 miles (110 km) away from the Chinese island of Hainan. One of the J-8s, Wang's fighter, collided with the surveillance aircraft after several intercept maneuvers. The J-8 was chopped in half, while the nosecone and a propeller of the EP-3 were severely damaged. Wang ejected after the collision, but was never found and declared dead. Meanwhile, the EP-3E made an emergency landing without authorization at the Chinese military airfield in Hainan.

Cause of collision

The cause of the collision and the assignment of blame is a matter of dispute. The American government claimed that one of the Chinese jets bumped the wing of the larger, slower, and less maneuverable EP-3E, while the Chinese government claimed that it was the American plane that swerved into the flight path and rammed the J-8. None of the information in the black boxes of either plane, both held by the Chinese government, was made public, so the matter is still disputed.

On the ground

Chinese claim of territory in the South China Sea

After landing, the U.S. aircraft crew proceeded to destroy sensitive equipment onboard the aircraft such as listening devices, as per U.S. Navy protocol. After completing these procedures, they disembarked from the plane. Kept under armed guard, they were taken to a Chinese military barracks where they were detained and interrogated. Three United States diplomats were immediately sent to Hainan island to meet with the crew and assess their conditions, and to negotiate their release. Their first opportunity to meet with the crew came the day after they landed, and they met with them three more times after that. The crew of 24 was detained until April 11, shortly after the U.S. issued the "letter of the two sorries" to the Chinese.

Letter of the two sorries

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Letter of the two sorries

The "Letter of the two sorries" was the letter delivered by the United States Ambassador Joseph Prueher to Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan of the People's Republic of China to defuse the Hainan Island incident in April 2001. Upon the collision between the U.S. surveillance aircraft and the Chinese fighter aircraft, the U.S. plane made an emergency landing on Chinese territory, while the Chinese fighter pilot and his plane were lost. The delivery of the letter led to the release of the U.S. crew from Chinese custody, as well as the return of the disassembled plane. The letter stated that the United States was "very sorry" for the death of Chinese pilot Wang Wei, and they also apologized for entering Chinese airspace and performing the emergency landing without authorization. Significantly, the United States did not apologize for conducting signals reconnaissance off the coast of China, nor did the United States explicitly accept responsibility for the collision, only expressing that they were sorry for the loss of Wang Wei and "sincere regret over (China's) missing pilot and aircraft."

The EP3 crew lands in Hawaii. (Pictured saluting is U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Curtis Towne.)

The letter itself was written in English; an official translation into Chinese was not offered by the U.S. government.

Aftermath

The crew returned to the United States via Hawaii after their release on April 11. The plane, however, was not released until July 3. The Chinese military did board the plane, but it is not known if they retrieved any sensitive information, or how effective the crew's destruction of the onboard technology was. The EP-3's pilot was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism and extraordinary achievement in flight while the J-8 pilot was hailed as a hero in China. The Chinese state-run media still maintain that the plane was in territorial waters at the time of the incident, and that the collision may have been intentional while the U.S. government contends the aircraft was in international airspace and that the collision was caused by the Chinese pilot.

Further reading

• Born to Fly: The Untold Story of the Downed American Reconnaissance Plane

See also

• U-2 Crisis of 1960
• Gulf of Sidra incident (1981)
• Gulf of Sidra incident (1989)

References

External links

• CNN article covering the incident early on
• BBC article
• Frontline interview with the EP-3 pilot, Shane Osborn
• Gallery of EP-3E being loaded into Antonov-124 for transport
• Chinese CCTV Media Coverage in Chinese