Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions The Best Music of 2025 Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions The Best Music of 2025 About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics 25 years ago today, a mid-air collision sparked an 11-day U.S.–China standoff On April 1, 2001, a midair collision between an American aircraft and a Chinese plane sparked an 11-day diplomatic crisis — and the two countries still tell very different stories. World 25 years ago today, a mid-air collision sparked an 11-day U.S.–China standoff April 1, 20265:00 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By Scott Tong US-China EP3 anniversary Listen · 3:39 3:39 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5768269/nx-s1-9713106" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript On April 1, 2001, a midair collision between an American aircraft and a Chinese plane sparked an 11-day diplomatic crisis — and the two countries still tell very different stories. Sponsor Message
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On this day 25 years ago, a midair crash between an American plane and a Chinese plane triggered an 11-day diplomatic crisis. The collision killed a Chinese fighter pilot, and Beijing plays up this event every April 1 as a historical grievance. Scott Tong has the story.
SCOTT TONG, BYLINE: The American Navy pilot that day was Shane Osborn. He flew a large surveillance plane over the South China Sea as his crew monitored Chinese communications. But then, he says, a Chinese fighter pilot flew up to him real close.
SHANE OSBORN: He came in too fast from behind me and he tried to pitch his nose up and slow his airplane down. But when he pitched it up, it flew up into my left wing and it cut him in half.
TONG: It was on this day 25 years ago - 2001.
OSBORN: Next thing I know I'm looking up at the South China Sea, and we're dead. So we fell for almost 8,000 feet in an inverted dive.
TONG: Somehow, Osborn fought the plane, got it level, and pulled off an emergency landing on China's southern Hainan island without permission. Osborn and his 23-member crew were held in China, setting off a diplomatic standoff, as Carole Simpson of ABC News reported at the time.
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CAROLE SIMPSON: Week two in the standoff with China. A tough public stance from both sides as president...
TONG: China's ambassador to the U.S. at the time, Yang Jiechi, went on PBS.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
YANG JIECHI: The United States should apologize for this incident and should act in a positive fashion.
TONG: Behind the scenes, an American diplomat in China, Mark Canning, tried to diffuse tensions. He flew down to visit the crew and begged a Chinese official there to show the world they were OK
MARK CANNING: I said, just take some pictures of the American crew to show that they're not being beaten or tortured or mistreated in any way, and then that will help to cool the temperature down.
TONG: It cooled. The Chinese eventually let Canning buy daily stuff for the crew members - novels, Snickers bars, underwear. No kidding. All buying time. And 11 days into the crisis, Washington sent a letter saying sorry for the unauthorized landing. Sorry the Chinese pilot died.
CANNING: We just said we're sorry, and the Chinese could translate it any way they wanted.
TONG: The American crew went home the next morning. Now, China to this day tells a very different story.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
TONG: On state TV, around every April 1, the Chinese pilot Wang Wei, who died in the crash, is remembered as a martyr. Here is his widow, Ruan Guoqin, in an interview.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RUAN GUOQIN: (Through interpreter) He just wanted to chase away the American plane, saying go away. This is our territory. The American pilot was caught off-guard and became anxious and crashed into Wang Wei.
TONG: China scholar Jessica Chen Weiss at Johns Hopkins University says there's a point to this messaging by the Chinese government.
JESSICA CHEN WEISS: They argue that the United States has been kind of a bully and a hegemon, trying to rally the public behind the Chinese Communist Party and appeal to that sense of nationalism and unity.
TONG: China today is a very different place, says longtime China scholar David Lampton.
DAVID LAMPTON: China has the biggest navy by ship count of any navy in the world. Also, its missile force has grown enormously.
TONG: So what if the same crash happened today? In a recent Foreign Affairs piece, Lampton and his Chinese colleague Wang Jisi wrote it would likely trigger a war. Scott Tong, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLYING LOTUS' "FF4") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor MessageBecome an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1167:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(323)},323:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(84)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1140),c(116),c(94),c(52),c(493),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1141),c(143),c(1142),c(238),c(48),c(1143)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1167,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();