Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, April 10, 2001
Nation/World
For comments, contact J. R.Mendoza at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
Bush delivers warning to China
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Bush cautioned yesterday that the spy plane standoff may not end soon and warned China that relations with the United States could suffer.
U. S. diplomas met for a fourth time with the crew of a crippled EP-3E surveillance plane. The 21 men and three women were doing fine, the president reported, and administration officials said negotiations for their release were progressing.
Nonetheless, Beijing insisted anew yesterday that Washington apologize and take responsibility for the spy plane's March 31 collision with a Chinese fighter jet. The White House said neither demand was warranted.
"D Diplomacy takes time," Bush said. "But there is a point — the
"There's a point at which our relations with China could become damaged."
George W. Bush President of the United States
longer it goes — there's a point at which our relations with China could become damaged."
Bush himself set high expectations a week ago today when he told China "it is time for our servicemen and women to return home" and again Friday when he reported "we're making progress" in negotiations.
Many of his own advisers had said they believed the 24-member crew would be released over the weekend.
Instead, China increased its hard-line rhetoric. "In consulta
tions, the Chinese side has emphasized that the entire responsibility for this incident rests with the U.S. side," the state-run Xinhua News Agency said, citing China's Foreign Ministry.
American diplomats were seeking a way to express sympathy to the satisfaction of China without an outright apology. The United States has also proposed having a commission determine the cause of the crash.
The president was not specific about potential harm to U.S.-Chinese relations, but his advisers noted for a second straight day that support for continuing normal trade relations with China was eroding in Congress.
They said the standoff also could affect the U.S. position on selling sophisticated destroyers to Chinese rival Taiwan; the future of U.S. military
exchanges; Bush's scheduled trip to Beijing this fall and the administration's position on China hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.
Republicans are particularly hawkish toward China.
The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine read by many of Bush's supporters, said in a weekend editorial titled "A National Humiliation" that the administration had shown weakness in its response to China.
Hoping to lower emotions, the White House stressed reports that the crew was being fed and clothed well while housed in air-conditioned quarters on Hainan island in the South China Sea.
The diplomats met the crew with no Chinese officials present, though they worked on the assumption that the conversations were being monitored by Beijing, U.S. officials said.
Race an issue in L.A. mayoral campaign
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — In a city fast gaining a Latino majority, someone like Antonio Villaraigosa may be the face of the future.
Villaraigosa, a Mexican immigrant's son from East L.A. and high school dropout who rose to speaker of the state Assembly, is seeking to become Los Angeles' first Latino mayor since 1872.
With 47 percent of Los Angeles' 3.7 million residents identifying themselves as Hispanic, up from 40 percent a decade ago, some say it is about time.
"It is hugely important," said Henry Cisneros, who became the country's first big-city Latino mayor when he was elected in San Antonio in 1981.
"Latino population growth is so big it is a huge part of the American national future, and Los Angeles would be there first."
But Villaraigosa, who eventually got his high school diploma and graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles, faces fierce competition from City Attorney James Hahn. He also risks splitting the Latino vote with Rep. Xavier Becerra.
"I think there's an excitement about this candidacy," said Villaraigosa. a 48-year-old Democrat who supports police reform and organized labor and has the endorsement of Gov. Gray Davis.
"People see that there's an opportunity to elect a progress
"I think there's an excitement about this candidacy."
Antonio Villaraigosa
Los Angeles mayoral candidate
sive and put together a broad coalition in support of an agenda that focuses on improving the quality of life for communities that have been left behind."
A poll released last week showed Hahn and Villaraigosa the leaders, with 24 percent and 23 percent respectively. Becerra had 5 percent.
And supporters cite his skill as a consensus builder during his six years in the Assembly.
Villaraigosa rejects the Latino candidate label, insisting he wants to represent everyone.
"If you look at our city today, 70 percent of children in the Los Angeles Unified School District are Latino," said billionaire businessman Eli Broad. "We will have a Latino mayor sooner or later."
Hahn, a white man whose base is in the black communities of South L.A., said he did not view the city's changing demographics as an impediment. "I have significant support in the Latino community even though we have two Latino candidates running," Hahn said.
Latinos are considered underrepresented in local government — only three of 15 City Council members are Latino.
Helicopter crash kills 16 during Vietnam MIA search
The Associated Press
THANH TRACH. Vietnam
THANH TRACH, Vietnam — American officials combed through the wreckage yesterday of a helicopter crash that killed 16 members of an MIA search team, including the commander of a Vietnamese-based unit of the U.S. military's MIA task force and the officer who was to replace him.
The Russian-made MI-17 helicopter crashed Saturday much like many U.S. aircraft did during the Vietnam War — into a hazeshrouded mountainside in central Vietnam.
On board were seven Americans and nine Vietnamese who were preparing for excavations next month as part of a search for the 1,992 Americans still listed as missing in action from the war in Indochina.
The Pentagon released the names of the Americans yesterday.
Among them was Lt. Col. George D. "Marty" Martin III, 40, of Hopkins, S.C., who was to take over command of the Hanoi detachment of the Hawai-based MIA task force in July. Martin, a battalion commander based in Fort Drum, N.Y., was a 17-year Army veteran, said his mother, Thelma Martin.
The crash also killed the unit's current commander, Army Lt. Col. Rennie Cory Jr., 43. The Pentagon listed his hometown as Oklahoma City, but his wife, Andrea, told The Fayetteville Observer he was from Fayetteville, N.C.
The other victims were Air Force Maj. Charles E. Lewis of Las Cruces, N.M.; Master Sgt. Steven L. Moser of San Diego, Tech.Sgt. Robert M. Flynn of Huntsville, Ala.; Navy Chief Petty Officer Pedro Juan Gonzalez of Buckeye, Ariz; and Army Sgt. 1st Class Tommy James Murphy. Murphy was from Georgia but his hometown was unavailable.
Their bodies were to be flown to Hawaii later in the week.
The Vietnamese military helicopter exploded on impact Saturday. Officials were still investigating the cause of the accident in Quang Binh province, about 280 miles south of Hanoi.
The team had canceled a stop in Dong Hoi, the provincial capital, because of bad weather, a local official said. The helicopter was on its way instead to Hue, Vietnam's ancient capital, when it smashed into the mountain.
U. S. Ambassador Pete Peterson praised Vietnam's efforts to recover the bodies and investigate the cause of the crash.
"The spirit of cooperation shown by our Vietnamese partners in this time of grief is as admirable as it has been in all our MIA operations together," he said in a statement.
The search for MIAs would continue despite the accident, "sustained by bonds of partnership made even stronger by this shared tragedy," he said.
The Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, based in Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, has searched for MIA remains from the Indochina war in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and southern China since 1992, and in recent years has expanded operations to include World War II and Korean War MIA recovery cases.
The fatalities were the task force's first in nine years of operation. The search for remains has grown more dangerous as the task force has investigated increasingly remote mountainous areas still littered with "UXO" — unexploded ordnance — from the war.
Since 1973, the remains of 591 American service members formerly listed as unaccounted for have been identified and returned to their families. There are 1,992 Americans still unaccounted for from the war in Southeast Asia, including 1,498 in Vietnam.
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