Tony Blair stepped in to de-escalate a dispute between Beijing and Washington that followed the capture of the crew of a US spy plane in April 2001, declassified cabinet papers show.
The EP-3 plane was forced to make an emergency landing at a Chinese air strip at Hainan island in the South China Sea after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet, which was lost along with its pilot.
Relations between the US and China took a dangerous turn in the aftermath of the incident, which resulted in the crew being interrogated and held by the Chinese military.
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