AMID THE FLAG waving, apple-pie feasts and endless strains of God Bless America surrounding the return of the freed spy-plane crew to United States soil, it is easy to forget that a little piece of America remains on Hainan Island.
With nose cone destroyed and propellers damaged, the EP-3E Aries II electronic-surveillance plane remains on the runway of Hainan's Lingshui air base, after crash-landing on April 1.
It is now clear the crew's return - after Washington's claim to being 'very sorry' following the collision with a Chinese jet fighter, which appears to have killed pilot Wang Wei - is by no means the end of the affair. Not surprisingly, then, the plane itself is swinging into focus. Washington wants it back, swiftly and unmolested. But Beijing is reserving its right to hold on to it for the time being for 'investigations'.
Yesterday, the war of words started again as both sides positioned themselves ahead of a joint meeting in Beijing on Wednesday. 'This incident is not over yet,' warned President Jiang Zemin's spokesman Zhu Bangzao, during a mission to Havana, Cuba.
'The US side has to assume all responsibilities in this matter and give an answer to the Chinese people,' Mr Zhu said, adding that the Chinese had every right to hold on to the plane.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell was not amused. 'I have to assume they've been all over it . . . But it is our plane, and we expect it back,' he said.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who had been muzzled during the State Department's delicate talks, was off the leash in his first major briefing on the saga at the Pentagon.