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Events on Thursday 12 April 2001 1
2001Hainan Island incidentUS spy plane and Chinese fighter collideOn 1 April 2001 a US Navy EP-3 surveillance aircraft collided with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea, killing the Chinese pilot. The damaged US plane made an emergency landing on Hainan Island, where its 24 crew were detained for eleven days. The standoff strained US-China relations early in the Bush presidency.