In a standoff emerging as the biggest foreign policy test of his young administration, US President George W. Bush demanded on Monday that China grant immediate US access to the crew of a Navy spy plane forced to land in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said China had offered to let US consular officials visit the plane's 24 crew members late on Tuesday night Beijing time, but ``that was not soon enough.''

"The first step should be immediate access by our embassy personnel to our crew members," the president, who took office on Jan. 20, said in a terse, televised statement delivered outside the White House. "I am troubled by the lack of a timely response to our request for this access."

A Pentagon spokesman said the United States had ordered three warships in the South China Sea region to move out of the area that and China expressed no interest in US offers to help search for a Chinese fighter jet that crashed as a result of the fatal collision.

"The ships have been released to proceed on duties as assigned," the spokesman said.

Earlier a defense official had said the three destroyers were lingering in the region to "monitor the situation," after the collison on Sunday morning Chinese time.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi as saying China had sent 11 ships and more than 20 planes to the crash area, but had not found the missing pilot from the Chinese fighter plane.

US defense experts said on Monday that the United States was anxious for China to return the surveillance spy plane because it could give Beijing insight into what data were of interest and how the information was collected, US defense experts said on Monday.

Shortly before Bush's appearance, the White House said it was in the interests of both countries to resolve the dispute swiftly.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, on a visit to Paris, said he too hoped for a rapid solution to the impasse.

"I hope that an adequate solution can be found," Tang told reporters in Paris after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac.

(China Daily 04/03/2001)