Summary

TAPE: EF01/0323 IN_TIME: 03:06:58 DURATION: 2:21 SOURCES: APTN RESTRICTIONS: DATELINE: 4 April 2001, New York SHOTLIST: 1. Wide shot street in Manhattan's Chinatown 2. Close up sign on building in Chinese characters 3. Wide shot people on street 4. Pan across Chinese-language newspapers published and distributed in the US 5. Close up detail from newspaper 6. Wide shot people on street 7. Wide shot people in park 8. Medium shot people read Chinese language newspaper in park 9. Wide shot Ms. Tai Yan walks to her desk in newsroom of World Journal newspaper 10. Medium shot Ms. Tai Yan at computer 11. Close up World Journal newspaper 12. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin): Ms. Tai Yan, Reporter "Among Chinese living here and Chinese-Americans there are a lot of complicated emotions about this problem. On the one hand, many people understand from the newspapers that this is America's fault, so America should acknowledge this responsibility. But at the same time these are American citizens, so they don't want to take a position that is simply pro-China and anti-American. So it's really complicated, they try to find some balance in their feelings." 13. Wide shot people on street in Chinatown 14. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin): Ms. Tai Yan, Reporter "People hope and expect that the US-China relationship and the trade relationship won't suffer too much from the influence of this situation." 15. Medium shot old woman and old man on street in Chinatown 16. Medium shot market stall in Chinatown with man handling fish STORYLINE: Mounting tensions between the US and China over the fate of an American spy plane and its crew is raising concern among many Chinese-Americans. In New York's Chinatown, the spy-plane stalemate dominates the front pages of all the Chinese language newspapers published in the US. The situation presents a real conflict for many residents here. Some came to the United States decades ago to flee China's communist government. But others are recent arrivals who came more for economic than political reasons, and many of those still closely identify with the mainland. For those who live and work in the community, it has been a time to try to sort through complex emotions. Many here also have business interests which they fear will suffer if a chill overtakes US-China relations, or if the incident heightens tensions between Taiwan and China. But so far the conflict appears not to have reached such a dangerous point. And there's one thing all parts of the Chinese-American community agree on, they hope the impasse will be resolved quickly, before the situation gets even worse.