Senator: don't let China push US around

Senator: don't let China push US around


WASHINGTON, May 12 (AFP) -
A leading US senator vowed Saturday he would push the United States to get tough with China amid Beijing's refusal to release a US spy plane and continued detention of US citizens.

"It's perfectly outrageous the way China is pushing us around, and that some way, somehow it's got to stop," Senator Jesse Helms told CNN in an interview.

The North Carolina Republican is chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee and has not been shy about using his power to influence the foreign policy of both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Helms said US President George W. Bush showed firmness in negotiations to recover the crew of the EP-3 spy plane, which made an emergency landing April 1 in China after a mid-air collision with an intercepting Chinese fighter jet.

"But we've got to straighten up and fly right about who's in charge of the United States' foreign policy, and I don't want it to be Beijing," he said.

Even though the 24-member crew was permitted to leave China after 11 days, the fate of the plane and its high-tech surveillance equipment remains a sticky issue, as the Chinese government considers US surveillance flights near China's coastline an infringement of its sovereignty.

Beijing's detention of five people who are either US citizens or permanent residents have further strained fragile relations with Washington.

Helms suggested the US government block China's bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games in retaliation for Beijing's behavior.

He also dismissed China's criticisms of US arms sales to Taiwan, saying he had never supported the idea the island is a renegade Chinese province as Beijing insists and the Bush administration agrees.

"I admire the president of the United States. I supported him and continue *****pport him. But it's just not one China, as far as I'm concerned. Shouldn't be," Helms said.

Bush, who came to office promising to take a tough line with China, has repeatedly said he will work with Beijing where US and Chinese interests coincide and remains in favor of trade with the communist giant.

However, the president has also said he would do whatever it takes to defend Taiwan against an invasion from the mainland, although the administration insists this is not a change from the policy of deliberate ambiguity over US intentions.