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A few points about the US letter to China: 1: "Please convey to the Chinese people and to the family of pilot Wang Wei that we are very sorry for their loss." Well, that's pretty standard behavior. What so people normally say to someone who has lost a loved one? When someone you know tells you a loved one dies, and you say, "Gee, I'm sorry", are you taking responsibility for that loved one's death??
2: "We are very sorry the entering of China?s airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance, but very pleased the crew landed safely. We appreciate China?s efforts to see to the well-being of our crew." That statement means exactly what it appears to mean. We're all really sorry that the plane was forced to fly through Chinese airspace in order to land in China, after being crippled in the accident. I know I was sure sorry.
3: That sorry brings me to a question: is the Communist regime so hidebound that they would have let the crew die (act of war?) while working through 100,000 miles of red tape in order to get "permission" to give the US pilot "verbal permission" to land?? BOY, now that is sorry. See how many different "sorry's" there really are in our culture? Our language is extremely agile. There's the outraged "Well...SORRY!!" meaning "Sorry?? Why should I be sorry??" Then there's the "Well, sorrr-EE!!" meaning "Excee-UUSE me for expecting you to behave like normal human beings!" Most Americans are really sorry that the plane was damaged, couldn't ditch, couldn't make it to a carrier, etc.
Most of all, there's the possibility that China, which supposedly did not yet know Wei was dead, would have callously allowed 24 people to die...for what? POLITICAL GAIN? That's damned sorry. And it's a sorry regime that can put people into such a position in the first place, and a really sorry bunch that tries to bully the US into taking the blame for something that wasn't our fault. No wonder the sorry heads of the last administration get along with people like that so well. I personally am really sorry that I was stupid enough to listen to the media picking this letter apart all day, while waiting for the president and administration officials to speak.
Then there's that old organized crime standby: "Sorry Ed, I've known you for twenty years. But it's just Business....I have to kill ya, Ed."
Then there's the time that my mother said my ex-lawyer's name during one of the most bitter custody disputes in the past decade. He insisted on an apology. Without going into details which may get me a libel suit, I'll sum it up this way: Mom spent 4 or 5 paragraphs, each saying something to the effect of: "I'm sorry that I have to apologize to you, because you'll make my grandchildren's lives miserable if I don't."
It was so well worded that he HE ACTUALLY ACCEPTED IT!! What an idiot!
When someone really regrets what they've done, they say something like "I'm really sorry. I was a real jerk. I was wrong and you were right." This letter says nothing of the kind, but the Chinese government doesn't mind! This might be a positive sign...or...the consumer boycotting and possible loss of the Olympics made the Chinese decide to take what they can get and bow out. The only person who could harbor that kind of regret was, I'm sure, the US pilot during his forced 1 1/2 week stay in China.
President Bush did not say what the Chinese wanted him to say: he did NOT take responsibility for someone else's actions. He did NOT apologize for doing reconnaissance in international waters, off the coast of China, while monitoring underground nuclear testing BY the Chinese, who say that "war with the US is inevitable."
What do they mean, there's only one way to say "I'm sorry" in our language??
Get past the semantics people: there is no major culture in the world in which the words "I'm sorry", or even "I'm really sorry" (or their equivalent) have only one meaning. Please, continue boycotting Chinese products.