Beijing had demanded the U.S. make a public apology. Although the White House and State Department expressed regret over the incident, Bush administration officials refuse to accept sole responsibility for the accident. In the end, the crisis was ended when the U.S. delivered a letter to the Chinese which said America was sorry for the loss of the Chinese pilot's life and acknowledged that the U.S. plane had landed at a Chinese airbase "without verbal clearance."

The U.S. and China also agreed to meet to avoid similar incidents in the future. But while China wants the U.S. to end its reconnaissance missions near its territory, the U.S. however, has said it has no intention of doing so.

Many observers expressed concern that this incident could further erode U.S.-China relations, already exacerbated by Washington's military alliance with Taiwan, and the Bush plan to deploy a national and regional missile defense system.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Robert Weil, author of "Red Cat, White Cat: China and the Contradictions of Market Socialism," who examines the historical context of this incident in which China is challenging U.S. military power on its national border while U.S. business is lured to China's cheap labor pool and enormous markets.

"Red Cat, White Cat: China and the Contradictions of Market Socialism," is published by Monthly Review Press.