China should release U.S. crew and plane

At this writing, the response of Chinese authorities to the emergency landing of a U.S. Navy surveillance plane on the island of Hainan seems to be designed to make a bad situation worse.
The only acceptable conclusion will be the prompt release of the 24 crewmen who were held incommunicado by the Chinese for three days. We felt this way even before learning that Shawn Coursen, 28-year-old son of a Niles couple, is among the crewmen. Now it's just a little more personal.
Not far behind, is the need for a fresh American crew to be given access to the plane to make whatever repairs are necessary and to fly it off the Chinese island 2,700 miles south of Beijing.
The last thing the Chinese should be doing is using the state-run media to stir up anti-American sentiment. At this point, we're batting zero for three on our wish list.
Battle lines: There's speculation in the West that military hard-liners and economic moderates are arguing over whether the crew and plane should be released. For everyone's sake, the moderates better win the argument.
So far, discussions with U.S. representatives have been confined to lower-level Chinese officials. In the meantime, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jia xuan, speaking to the press in Paris, put a perverse spin on things.
"The American side has explained time and again to our ambassador that this incident will not influence the general interests between China and the United States," the foreign minister said. Such assurances, he must know, are predicated on the prompt release of crew and plane. If Tang thinks China can hold Americans captive and rifle through one of the most sophisticated airplanes the United States has without affecting U.S.-China trade, he's kidding only himself. If he thinks the United States will back China's entry into the World Trade Organization, while it holds our nation hostage, he's delusional.
The United States should also make it clear that the U.S. relationship with Taiwan is not part of the equation regarding release of the crew. This nation does not use long-time allies as bargaining chips.
Future questions: Perhaps we're getting ahead of ourselves, given Chinese intransigence thus far, but something needs to be said about what happens after the crew is released.
This incident demands a thorough investigation.
Are we certain that the U.S. aircraft was outside Chinese air space when it was challenged by the F-8 fighters? After the mid-air collision, who made the decision to seek safety at a Chinese military base? Was that the only alternative? How much could Chinese technicians have been likely to learn during however long they managed to keep the plane under their control?
Some of these are difficult questions even to ask, much less answer. But that's the difference between China, where the state tells the people what they should be asking, and America, where the people have a right to know the truth.