President Bush briefly imitated Chinese leaders before going inside the White House to insult them by phone.
The Bush administration faces it's first diplomatic challenge this week with a US Navy spy plane and 24 crew members being held by the Chinese government.
The spy plane, which had been on an intelligence gathering mission along the Chinese border, was forced to make an emergency landing early Sunday following a midair collision with a Chinese fighter.
The US plane landed without further incident at a Chinese military base where the 24 crewmen were seperated and detained. The Chinese fighter jet involved in the collision crashed into the ocean, and the pilot is still believed to be missing.
Both sides blame the other for the mishap, with the Chinese saying the US plane deliberately turned into the fighter's flight path. Pentagon sources dismiss such claims, saying that under international law the fighter, which has more manuverability than the propped spy plane, has the incentive to avoid a slower moving aircraft.
Chinese officials are also believed to have boarded the plane, which is loaded with the latest intelligence gathering equipment.
"They has no rights to get inside that aircraft," a rankled Bush told reporters, "and yet they went ahead and did so. I can tell you that if a Chinese spy plane landed here loaded with all sorts of neato gizmos we wouldn't go inside it and take a looksie around, no sir. That just isn't fair. That's why we spy on peoples."
Bush also admonished the Chinese for not allowing US diplomats access to the detained crew members, some of which are women.
"This is not the way to go about improving relations with us," he said, "and they should just knock it off. We, on the other hand, have made several attempts to improve relations - by spying on them, criticizing them and preparing to sell weapons to Taiwan. There's also some other stuff we are doing, but I really can't tell you about that because it could start World War III."
