Twenty-four US air crew entered their second week in detention today, and China's powerful military weighed in with a hardline stand that risked prolonging the crisis.
Senior US officials, meanwhile, warned that the incident had already hurt China-US relations and called for a quick release of the crew to avoid worse damage.
Despite US pressure for unrestricted access twice daily to the 21 men and three women held on Hainan Island, Chinese authorities gave no approval for any contact today. It also emerged that only eight of the 21 had been permitted to attend the last meeting yesterday.
Nevertheless, Chinese and US officials continued work on drafting a joint communique aimed at resolving the dispute. China is demanding a full apology, but Washington has ruled that out.
Chinese Defence Minister Mr Chi Haotian said the United States would not be allowed to escape responsibility for last Sunday's collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter, which crashed into the South China Sea with the loss of its pilot.
The main military newspaper, the Liberation Army Daily, quoted him saying the collision was "entirely caused by the US side".
"China will not let them push the blame onto others", he said during a visit to Ruan Guoqin, wife of the missing pilot.
In an indication that the military could delay any quick resolution of the crisis, the paper said Chinese authorities had the right to conduct a full and thorough investigation of the entire incident, including those responsible on theUS military plane and the US military plane itself .
And it demanded that the United States halt all surveillance flights off China's coast.
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said there was no evidence of US responsibility for the crash.
"The relationship (between the US and China) is being damaged", Mr Powell said in a US television interview."In order for the damage to be undone and for no further damage to occur, we've got to bring this matter to a close as soon as possible".
He suggested that bilateral damage could extend to the lucrative trade front where Beijing risks losing additional votes to keep its favourable trading status.
US Vice President Mr Dick Cheney insisted that the United States would not offer the full apology demanded by China.