The United States said on Tuesday that China should expect no apology over a US spy plane incident, insisting that nothing had been done to warrant an apology.

"We didn't do anything wrong. This was international airspace, and it was an accident," said a senior US official in response from public appeals from Chinese officials for an apology.

The official said the United States would regret the loss of the Chinese pilot involved in the mid-air collision on Sunday with a US EP-3 spy plane, if indeed the pilot was killed, "but in terms of an apology, no."

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage called in China's ambassador to the United States, Yang Jiechi, to add pressure on the Chinese to release the 24 members of the plane's crew being held on China's Hainan Island, the official said.

The official described a harrowing scene after the collision and praised the US pilot for being able to land the damaged plane. The plane lost one propeller, suffered damage in another and the nosecone, and dropped 8,000 feet (2,499 metres) after the collision.

(China Daily 04/04/2001)