On the afternoon of April 18, according to relevant understanding of the two sides, China and the US held negotiations on the incident that a US reconnaissance plane rammed into and destroyed a Chinese plane and related issues in Beijing. During the negotiations, the two sides elaborated their respective stances on the issue. Lu Shumin, head of the Chinese delegation and director of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, reiterated China's principled stand on the incident, noting that the Chinese side has had enough evidence to prove that it is the U.S. side that should hold the full responsibility for the incident and the so-called evidence and remarks made public by the U.S. side over the past few days are sheer groundless. He emphasized that The U.S. side should bear the full responsibility for the incident, make clear and responsible explanations to the Chinese people, stop reconnaissance flights in the space adjacent to Chinese coastal areas and take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such incident.

It is learned that the two sides will continue their negotiations on April 19.