WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agreed Sunday that China's handling of the U.S. spy plane incident has heightened congressional sensitivities about a range of pending issues, from the sale of advanced weapons to Taiwan to Beijing's favorable trading status.
"This is probably leading . . . in the near term to a fundamental change in our relations with China," said Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "I hate on Easter morning to talk about retribution, but there's going to be retribution."
Torricelli was one of several members of Congress who appeared on television interview shows and said the United States should toughen its stance as a result of the hard line Beijing took after a U.S. surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet April 1.
The importance of the bilateral relationship was underscored by some senators who cautioned that the White House should not retaliate against China, the world's most populous nation and a rising international power. Rather, they said, the administration should proceed based on the long-term strategic and economic interests of the United States and its allies.
"It is in the best interest of this country and the world to put this relationship with China back on a steady course," Sen. Charles Hagel (R-Neb.) said.
Still, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said on CNN's "Late Edition" that Washington's "first priority should be to send a very strong signal to China that it cannot continue to engage in belligerent activity toward Taiwan and toward the United States and expect to have the kind of relationship with us that we had thought that it wanted to have."
The most immediate concern cited by lawmakers was repatriation of the Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane that the Chinese continue to hold. After the collision, it made an emergency landing on Hainan island in the South China Sea. The plane's 24 crew members were detained for 11 days but returned to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington state Saturday.
Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" that the United States should demand that the specially equipped aircraft be returned promptly and not held as "a trophy."
Beijing's failure to return the plane, Hyde said, "would put in jeopardy the congressional vote on most-favored-nation status" for China.
