LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: There are some new developments this morning in the U.S. diplomatic squabble with China over a crippled Navy spy plane.</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: Chinese authorities say they will allow a team of U.S. diplomats to meet with the plane's crew members. That visit is supposed to happen sometime today. For the very latest, we're joined now by CNN Beijing bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon. Rebecca, what can you tell us?</s>REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Jason. Well, the very latest information we have is that U.S. diplomats are now waiting in a hotel in the city of Haikou, the capital of the island of Hainan, which is the island where the U.S. plane made its emergency landing. They are waiting for the visit, which Chinese authorities have now promised will happen in the coming hours, between the U.S. officials and the U.S. crew of the EP-3 surveillance plane. Meanwhile, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, is focusing on the fate of the downed Chinese pilot. A Chinese F-8 airforce jet fell into the ocean after the collision with the U.S. plane. There is still a search-and-rescue operation going on for the pilot. He has not yet been found. Chinese President Jiang Zemin says that the United States must be held fully responsible for what happened. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman has elaborated on this, saying that China wants the United States to fully apologize, to make a full accounting and explanation of what happened to the Chinese people, and to promise not to conduct any further surveillance missions so close to Chinese airspace. The Chinese Foreign Ministry also dismissed any concerns by the United States that the U.S. airplane might be considered U.S. territory and immune from boarding. As far as we understand, that plane has been boarded. And the Foreign Ministry spokesman said the plane cannot be considered U.S. sovereign territory, and China has every right to conduct an investigation on it. This is Rebecca MacKinnon, reporting live from Beijing.</s>CARROLL: Rebecca, thanks so very much for that update.
Chinese to Allow U.S. Diplomats to Meet Crew of Downed EP-3, Claim Right to Investigate Plane