US President George W. Bush today expressed "regret" that a Chinese pilot was still missing after his airplane collided with a US spy aircraft off China's coast, sparking a Sino-US dispute.
"I regret that a Chinese pilot is missing. I regret one of their airplanes is lost," he said, echoing comments by US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell a day earlier.
Administration officials have said Mr Bush will not offer an outright apology.
Mr Bush also stood fast by his demand that Beijing release the 24 US military personnel aboard Washington's EP-3 Aries surveillance plane, damaged when it made an emergency landing in China Sunday.
"Our prayers go out to the pilot, his family. Our prayers are also with our own servicemen and women and they need to come home," Mr Bush said.
"My message to the Chinese is we should not let this incident destabilise relations. Our relationship with China is very important," he said.
He said the US was working all diplomatic channels to bring the crew home.
Earlier, in the face of Chinese demands that the United States apologize for the incident, White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer had asserted that "the position of the United States is unchanged" and that Mr Bush would not apologise.
Mr Fleischer, who earlier said diplomatic efforts to end the dispute had accelerated overnight, added "there is intensive diplomacy under way," but cautioned that matters remained "in a sensitive stage."
China had welcomed Mr Powell's US statement of "regret" over the loss of the Chinese pilot as a positive step, but said nothing less than a full apology would defuse the crisis.
The round-the-clock diplomacy had earlier moved to Washington from Beijing, where US ambassador Mr Joseph Prueher struck a positive note before talks at China's foreign ministry.
"Things are looking good," Mr Prueher told reporters.
His counterpart in Washington, Mr Yang Jiechi, left the State Department after his third meeting in as many days without speaking to reporters.
AFP