A conscious effort to move on
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President Bush talks with the crew of the U.S. Navy aircraft after they arrived in Hawaii on Thursday
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April 12, 2001
Web posted at: 7:22 PM EDT (2322 GMT)
(CNN) -- While working to regain positive relations following the spy plane standoff, U.S. and Chinese officials are working to minimize the effects of the incident and curb domestic unrest in their countries.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted the standoff did some damage to U.S.-Chinese relations, but added, "I don't see anything that's not recoverable."
A White House official said Tuesday the staff "didn't feel it was ever a crisis atmosphere." This was largely because of President George W. Bush, he said.
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China, where the central government controls the main media outlets, asked the Chinese people to refocus their energies on bettering China domestically rather than denouncing the United States.
State-owned CCTV, quoting an editorial in People's Daily newspaper, praised the condemnation on what it called "U.S. hegemony" from "the general masses" in Chinese factories, the countryside, schools, government and military units.
CCTV's statement urged people to "concentrate the strong patriotic passion on various projects of the reforms and socialist modernization" and rally around President Jiang Zemin.
"(The) Chinese government is afraid of criticism and dissatisfaction from the people" because of its decision to release the U.S. servicemen, a Beijing-based political scientist told CNN.
"The key is how the media directs the public outcry," said the expert, asking not to be named. "The central government doesn't want it to get out of hand."
Chinese police prevented demonstrations outside the U.S. Embassy throughout the impasse, in sharp contrast to the central government's attitude when NATO forces mistakenly bombed China's embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
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RELATED SITES:
The Pentagon
U.S. Department of State
Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the U.S.
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