U.S. Families Stranded In Hong Kong

A long standing order blocking a US aircraft carrier group from visiting Hong Kong on Thanksgiving was reversed on Thursday, November 22. The change in heart by the Chinese government came too late to allow the holiday visit and the ships continued on to their Japanese base, according to Reuters.

The U.S. State Department said the visit had been refused canceling the initial plan for the USS Kitty Hawk group and its 8000 airmen and sailors in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Chinese officials appeared to have changed their minds after hundreds of relatives of the U.S. crew members had flown to the former British colony of Hong Kong to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday.

"We have decided to allow the Kitty Hawk to stay in Hong Kong during Thanksgiving," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference. "It is a decision based on humanitarian considerations only." Word may have come too late to change course, but Navy officials are saying little about the incident.

"The Kitty Hawk's returning to Yokosuka," said Lieutenant Commander John Filostrat. "When they were refused entry they began heading back and that remains the situation", he said.

Holiday visitors hoping to see their family members were dismayed. "I miss my daddy," said Mark Curry, 14, whose father is aboard one of the vessels. "We thought he was going to be there, but we don't know what actually happened. I was just depressed."

The surprise move by the Chinese came just weeks after a U.S. visit by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. His visit was thought to have opened up dialogue between the U.S. and Chinese officials. China spokesman Liu did not offer any information about why the ships were initially blocked, but indicated Beijing may have had other reasons for the decision.

Reasons that may have led to the decision are that the U.S. has plans to sell Taiwan a $940 million upgrade to its missile system and an October meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader whom Beijing considers a traitor, said Reuters. A Chinese submarine surfaced unusually close to the Kitty Hawk last year near the Japanese island of Okinawa, an incident that could have promoted friction between the two powers.

Beijing's decision over the group's visit, coincided with "airspace controls" introduced on Wednesday which the Xinhua news agency said affected the air travel plans of 7,000 people in south and east China. No reason for the controls or why they had been ordered was offered by the Chinese. The Kitty Hawk, due to be decommissioned next year, last visited Hong Kong for a Thanksgiving stopover in 2005.

"Everyone in Wanchai is disappointed," said Cady Chan, the manager of the New Makati Inn.

"This was the last time the Kitty Hawk was coming to Hong Kong, this would have been a red-hot time." The indecisive action by the Chinese may have diplomatic implications later with the US.

FMI: www.navy.mil/local/cv63/, www.mardep.gov.hk/