U.S. won't pay China $1 million for plane collision costs

The EP-3 sat on the tarmac on Hainan Island until China allowed U.S. engineers to dismantle it for shipping.

From Chris Plante
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States plans to pay the Chinese government about $34,000 as "reasonable reimbursement" for "services provided" by the Chinese following the in-flight collision of a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet, CNN has learned.

The April 1 collision between a EP-3 Aries II reconnaissance plane and a Chinese F-8 fighter jet caused the fighter to crash into the South China Sea, killing the pilot and forcing the U.S. plane to make a harrowing emergency landing at a Chinese military base on Hainan Island.

Although the incident occurred in international airspace, the Chinese blamed the United States for the crash and detained the 24 crew members for 11 days before releasing them. The United States blamed a reckless and aggressive Chinese pilot.

The Chinese government submitted a $1 million bill to the United States to cover what it described as costs associated with housing and feeding the crew members of the EP-3 and for assisting in the return of the crippled plane.

EXTRA INFORMATION In Depth: U.S.-China Collision  A Diplomatic Solution Photo Gallery: Disassembling the EP-3

Engineers from Lockheed-Martin were also housed, fed and assisted by the Chinese as they disassembled the airplane for transport back to the United States aboard giant, chartered transport planes.

Pentagon sources told CNN that the United States has determined that $34,000 was the actual cost to the Chinese government and will pay them that amount.

The cost to the U.S. government for the disassembly and transport of the plane from Hainan Island to a Lockheed-Martin plant near Atlanta, Georgia, was in the millions of dollars.

Although the United States argued that it would be easier and less expensive to repair the EP-3 on Hainan Island and fly it out, the Chinese insisted that the plane be taken apart and flown out in sections aboard transport planes.

Members of Congress and other U.S. officials bristled at the idea of paying the Chinese $1 million.

The United States claimed the Chinese pilot repeatedly swooped at high speed past the EP-3, dangerously close to the four-engine propeller plane, before crashing into one of its wings.

The Chinese government claimed that the lumbering EP-3 turned into the path of the fighter jet, causing the collision.