Before that, the passengers -- who believed they were unfairly treated by Japan Airlines during their stop at a Japanese airport in late January -- planned to bring legal action against the Japanese company.

This message was confirmed Thursday by Li Hao, a spokesman for the Chinese passengers, and Wang Xiaobin, lawyer and spokesman for Japan Airlines, in two separate interviews.

According to the spokesman for Japan Airlines, Aoyama Tomohide, chief representative of Japan Airlines' Beijing Office is going to Tianjin next week, where many of the Chinese passengers reside, to negotiate a settlement of the conflict and also take measures to improve the flight service, said Wang.

After they reach consensus, the president of the company will travel to Beijing and present a formal apology to the Chinese passengers, who welcome the Japanese attitude about resolving the conflict.

But the Japanese side said other legal representatives instead of the president could be coming to Beijing to apologize, which remains to be discussed.

"As they have realized their mistakes and announced a desire to draw lessons from this issue, we are likely to accept the negotiation and intermediation,'' said Li, on behalf of the group.

Li also said they will not insist on saying that the case is due to "racial discrimination.''

As for compensation, the two spokesmen agreed that it was not on the communication agenda for next week. "It will be the second step after we reach an agreement on how to improve the service of Japan Airlines,'' said Li.

Li and the other Chinese were passengers on the Beijing-Tokyo flight in January.

The plane was diverted to Osaka due to heavy snowfall in Tokyo. According to the Chinese mainland passengers, they were treated with bad service after the plane landed at Osaka Airport.

According to Li, the Chinese, including elderly and young passengers, were forced to stay in the waiting hall overnight while other passengers were given hotels or transferred to Tokyo by train. Apart from a sandwich, they received no water or food the entire night.

The Chinese Consumers' Association yesterday made no statement about this event.

(China Daily 06/29/2001)