US diplomats allowed new meeting with spy plane crew in China

HAIKOU (AFX-ASIA) - China has allowed U.S. diplomats to hold a second meeting with the crew of a U.S. surveillance plane detained in southern China, amid intense diplomatic maneuvering to secure their release.    The 24 crew of the EP-3 Aries surveillance plane have been detained since the aircraft made an emergency landing at Lingshui airport on the southern tip of Hainan on Sunday after a collision with a Chinese fighter jet.    US diplomats visited the crew for 40 minutes on Tuesday night, but since then the 21 men and three women have been held incommunicado at a guest house inside a military complex in Haikou.    The new meeting came as both Chinese and American leaders took a more conciliatory approach over the six-day crisis, and officials from both sides worked through the night to find a way out of the stand-off.

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