White House Announces Delegation for U.S./China Talks
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Some members of Congress want the United States to take a tough approach to China, when the two sides meet Wednesday in Beijing. Others warn against aggravating tensions, on the rise since the collision between a Chinese fighter and the U.S. surveillance plane. The White House has just announced who's going to the Chinese capital for the meeting, and for more about it, we turn to our senior White House correspondent John King -- John.</s>JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Natalie. It will be an eight-member U.S. delegation, mostly unfamiliar faces. One person at the table, Brigadier General Neal Sealock -- he became a familiar face. He, of course, is the U.S. military attache to the embassy in Beijing, was the lead official meeting with those 24 crewmembers while they were detained in China. At that meeting, the U.S. side saying there will be some tough questions asked of the Chinese. Number one, CNN was told by a senior administration official that the U.S. side will inform the Chinese that those surveillance flights are about to resume. The U.S. side, we're told, won't give a firm date but will put the Chinese on notice that those flights are about to resume and will ask some very tough questions, we're told, about how will the Chinese respond. The U.S. seeking a commitment from the Chinese that their fighter pilots will not come so close, at least in the eyes of the United States. It is the Chinese side to blame for flying dangerously close to the EP-3 surveillance plane, not only for this collision but in the past as well. We're also told the U.S. side will request permission to send in a repair crew to get the EP-3 plane out of China as soon as possible. And for all of the talk about ramifications, should the United States oppose China's bid to host the -- host the 2008 Olympics, should there be trade sanctions against China, the White House making clear the president will take those decisions down the road a bit but also making clear the political climate here in the United States certain to be affected by the tone that China adopts at Wednesday's meeting.</s>ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: During that meeting, I think you can expect some forthright conversations about these flights and about what took place. And, as the president said in the Rose Garden on Thursday, both nations have to make a determined choice about the future of relations, and the first evidence of those determined choices will come in that meeting on Wednesday, and the president wants to hear what the Chinese have to say.</s>KING: Now, as the United States prepares to resume those surveillance flights, there has been some discussion here in the United States if perhaps using fighter jet escorts and even some reports suggesting the USS Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier, is in the region in the area to provide such escorts. Pentagon sources, though, and other administration officials telling CNN to -- not to look in that direction at all. Most administration officials believing that having fighter jets in the air at the same time as those surveillance flights would only exacerbate the situation, be viewed by the Chinese as a provocative step, and also greatly enhance the risks of another accident -- Natalie.</s>ALLEN: All right. John King at the White House. In China, he's been declared a revolutionary martyr, and now he has his own Web site. China's official news agency is inviting people to pay tribute to pilot Wang Wei on line. It was his fighter jet that collided with the U.S. surveillance plane. In addition to the Web site, China's president has given Wang the title "Guardian of the Air and Sea." TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com