From the National Security Archive.


"On 31 March 2001 (Washington time), a U.S. EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft made an emergency landing on China’s Hainan Island after a Chinese People’s Liberation Air Force aircraft collided with it in international airspace, some 62 miles from Hainan. A few days after the incident, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld received “talking points” from Defense Department lawyers, published today for the first time, who argued that if the pilot was flying so close underneath the EP-3 as reported, the pilot violated the “due regard” principle of international law. In addition, the pilot’s action was “provocative and dangerous and most probably resulted in the collision.” Thus, the U.S. refused to apologize for the incident as the Chinese had demanded. The talking points memo is one of the thousands of Rumsfeld “snowflake” that have been secured through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit by the National Security Archive against the Defense Department, litigated on a pro bono basis by the Skadden Arps law firm"


Reconnaissance Flights and U.S.-China Relations | National Security Archive