China Detains White House Press Plane

BEIJING — A charter airplane carrying the White House press corps was detained for nearly three hours Friday at Beijing's international airport not long after President Bush arrived to attend the Olympic Games.

The flight crew of the Northwest Airlines 747 had been expecting to park at a VIP terminal, but after landing was instead directed by the control tower to a normal international gate.

White House officials would say only there were "logistical problems" getting clearance to unload the aircraft. The flight crew was told the Chinese were insisting that all luggage be inspected.

Typically, the White House press charter receives the "custom of the port," meaning reporters, photographers and camera crews are able to get off the plane right after landing, board buses and head to their hotels and work areas while U.S. State Department officials process immigration and customs details.

Delays on landing have happened before, but no one on the plane was able to recall one this long.

The plane landed at 2:10 a.m. local time. Passengers finally were able to get off the plane shortly after 5 a.m. However, they were made to pass through Chinese immigration control individually, and baggage was still being screened.

Many of those on the plane _ roughly 40 journalists _ were due to cover the president's first appearance of the day: the opening of the new Beijing U.S. Embassy complex.

Comments

[watchingthings]

Those who were a part of this fiasco must think right to this minute that they are right...who are these "backward" people who dare to stop "modern journalism" [problem is with American journalists...these people don't know the difference between journalism and bush's bullshit.].

[CAPTAINSKIPPY]

Chinese cops are just checking for bugs and black bags, and maybe using a few themselves.

[chinationreport]

I can't believe so many of you have such a poor outlook on the US. I am Chinese living in the US, workign for a European company. With Euro going up in value, Yuan also going up, China toughing policy on environment /carbon emissions, also China's lack of natural resources, I think America has a great future. Manufacturing sector will come back to America, if not already!! It is not cheap labor that is threatening American workers, it is their readiness to embrace new world, with new skills, new training, new knowledge!! America will be producing, not just for itself, but also exporting to other countries. More Buicks are now sold in China than in the US. China is the 3rd largest importer of US goods. The two countries can benefit from each other if they start having a dialog and collaborate on things that are mutually benefial...
No need to have another cold war or war of ideology.

http://www.chinationreport.com/ for daily balanced news about China, from China

[logicanada]

Gee, has this happened with any other foreign dignitary?
And if not, why not?
Perhaps the government of China saw fit to deprive Bush of his grandstanding on the world stage if only to save the US of the inevitable embarrassment he usually causes and to keep the focus ofthis event on sports as opposed to politics.

[NochlessMonster]

Oh no! First it was the Clintonistas, and Mavericky mavericks posting for points... the P u M as..... Now..... it seems as it we have our first pro China poster..........

[AdLib]

I hear you can buy a Little Red Book at Walmart for $1.99.

Yep, ignore the fascist regime behind the curtain, human rights don't matter when a profit can be made.

Maybe 0bama can make a bigger point about raising taxes on the wealthy will help pay off debt to China and get us more out from under their influence.

[AdLib]

I hear you can buy a Little Red Book at Walmart for $1.99.

Yep, ignore the fascist_regime behind the curtain, human rights don't matter when a profit can be made.

Maybe 0bama can make a bigger point about raising taxes on the wealthy will help pay off debt to China and get us more out from under their influence.

[Huffingtonposter231]

You are trying to reason with people who are dedicated to inflammatory political and personal attacks. It wont work.

[AdLib]

Repugs just can't help embracing fascist regimes.

[AdLib]

Repuggs just can't help embracing fascist_regimes wherever they find them..

[macintoshsauce]

Sorry, but your country has an abysmal human rights record that is not to be forgotten. China can do all she wants, but until she stops treating people like she does, the world is never going to care what China does.

In our household, we have banned any Chinese Olympics on our TVs. Also, we don't buy Chinese goods. It's our way of saying, "FU, China."

[AlieNation]

The U.S. has more people in prison than China even though China has four times our population.

We may have some "human Rights" issues of our own to look at.

[Viper]

Excuse me.. mexico imports more cars into the U.S... than we export to the rest of the world...

Are the Buicks made here?

Regards

[AntiTerrorDonkey]

we can have "homeland" security

butt frick them Chin=ese if they try it

heh...

[MinYee]

In retaliation, let's just nationalize everything that China owns over here.

[rosal]

We would have to nationalize more than half the country. I wonder what is our debt to China, and how much property and busines they own here

[liarsliar]

Are you kidding? The Chinese are the major holder of our debt. When you and I want credit we use plastic; the U.S. government uses China!

[PhantomAviator]

..

Just the normal delays One might expect when travelling through free society.

Right?

.

[eugenegerard]

Don't buy their stuff. TURN OFF THE OLYMPICS>

[liarsliar]

Good idea! We can start with not buying any more under-garments...

[Jamchinadian]

Too bad the Chinese allowed the plane to land. Worse - too bad they allowed Air Force One to land.

This is a disgrace. Is no one else outraged? The worst president ever is the first president to attend an Olympics overseas!

We pay for his little junket - do we also pay for the WH press, sorry "press" corp's little junket as well? That would be adding insult to injury.

[SCG2]

Agreed, it is an outrage.

[WLA]

Please oh please don't let this shameless b u f f o o n do a dance or kiss anybody.

[abby4ever]

You should hear the hue and cry over here about how many people went from the UK to China, the hotel that houses the bbc staff alone, is like an ant colony. All at the taxpayer's expense.

[Roci]

Just a minute , while I flip thru my biggest Pinyin Dictionary, and try to find the right shade of the word:

STUPID!!!

Centuries of one of the most cultured civilization on this planet, overtaken by a group of officious imbeciles. Nice work, Comrades!! Tell me again how open China is nowadays? 65 is a good number for an age, but not for an IQ!!

Roci

[max08]

Another thing. The USA has been the one screaming about airport security and introducing odious unnecessary practices. So China turns the screw.

Now the journos will know what its like to be a foreigner coming to this country, or a returning average American.

Frankly, I hope THEIR TSAs took their laptops. Maybe then instead of reporting on Britney Spears political ads they could address the insanity of what regular working folk have to endure trying to get back into this country.

[KOisGod]

No Sheeeet. Did their bags get lost? Still in New York? It was Northwest, could be anywhere.

[racom]

WTF, tell the chinese we do not negotiate with terrorist and they will have to keep them. It's not like they were actually reporting news. Photo op again!

[Jamchinadian]

I love it;
I LOVE It!
ROFLMAO

[researcher]

they want their money back poor investment

wait a minute not so poor

now they own us lock stock and barrel

communist country owns a capitalist country

yes there is a god

and americans cheered when berlin wall came down

and ameicans still think their brand of capitalism is best in the world

we borrow from communist, socialists and kings

self righteousness and arrogance all rolled up into one

oh I forgot imperialism and war mongering

only thing that will stop our imperialism is economic decline

we are living thru that now

the third world will be safer for it

[KOisGod]

The Chinese Fascist dictatorship don't cotton no FREE PRESS. Is that clear? And the worlds up and coming merchant class, the Italian's of this century, are going to do what Mussillino started, rule through fear and buy themselves a military equal to ours.

See, because we'll sell it to them. Death weapons is all we're good at.

[max08]

This is what happens when Bush lectures China about its human rights activities and political activities on the eve of a sports spectacular. Mr. Diplomacy's admin can't even finesse the US presence at the Olympics.

[Uselessboy]

Well this White House introduced us to its foreign policy strength by begging China to stop detaining one of its Navy planes. Nobody remembers that it was returned long afterward in little boxes.

[SCG2]

I do.

[raythemoneyman]

Don't we all live in our own reality. I wish we treated the press like that in every American city. They have obviously been proven to be unreliable and dishonest! Maybe we could take some lessons from the Chinese on airport security. When something goes wrong this will be the first venue throwing the blame at them for not doing enough. ....Now lets go drill some oil wells!