Rumsfeld: Chinese pilot caused crash
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has blamed ‘‘aggressive’’ manoeuvring by a Chinese fighter pilot for the crash with a US spy plane.
In his first public comments on the incident, he claimed Chinese pilots had been ‘‘buzzing’’ US planes for months.
Contradicting Chinese reports of the incident that sparked an 11-day stand-off, Mr Rumsfeld said the crew issued several Mayday signals and landed in distress.
‘‘The Chinese pilots have been manoeuvring aggressively against our pilots for months,’’ Mr Rumsfeld said, citing 44 recent cases.
‘‘The F-8 pilot clearly put at risk the lives of 24 Americans.’’
He played dramatic audio and video tapes of previous close encounters between US and Chinese planes.
Mr Rumsfeld suggested the crew was able to destroy much of the intelligence data aboard the plane.
‘‘They ... did a major portion of their checklist,’’ he said, referring to the standard procedures the crew was trained to take in the event their plane was compromised.
He added that Chinese officials were armed when they ‘‘invited the crew off the aircraft.’’
Showing some diplomacy, Rumsfeld stopped short of saying the crew was forced off the plane at gunpoint.
