"The so-called decision is unacceptable to China both in its content and form," Zhang Qiyue, a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, told a news conference.

China had expressed the "utmost dissatisfaction" to the United States over the low payment and rejected the offer.

"We urge the US side to correct its erroneous decision and take into consideration the reasonable request of the Chinese side for an appropriate settlement of the payment issue," Zhang said.

Washington announced Thursday that payment was on its way to Beijing with official sources confirming the amount was about US$34,000 -- much less than the estimated US$1 million demanded by China to cover costs incurred while the EP3 spy plane incident earlier this year.

Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman, had said in Washington that the payment was "for services rendered and assistance in taking care of the aircrew, and some of the materials and contracts to remove the EP-3 itself."

"Where we felt there was a fair value provided by the Chinese, we tried to provide a fair dollar value for that service," he said.

He said on Thursday that the payment, which would be made by the US embassy in Beijing in the next few days, was "non-negotiable. That's the end of it."

The crippled EP-3 landed, without Chinese side's permission, at China's Lingshui air field on Hainan island on April 1 after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet over South China Sea. The pilot of the Chinese plane was killed.

The incident caused strains in US-Chinese relations that only recently were smoothed over by a trip to Beijing by US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Sino-US relations have also been frayed since President George W. Bush came to power earlier this year by disputes over US weapons sales to Taiwan

(Chinadaily.com.cn 08/12/2001)