(CBS)—CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller reports via e-mail that “something of a standoff” has developed between the U.S. and China over the White House press plane.
He and other reporters are not being let off the charted White House press plane which is on the tarmac at the Beijing airport.
Chinese authorities have demanded to search all the luggage and equipment on the aircraft—going back on a previous agreement. The White House refused, and so no one on the plane has been allowed to get off. A White House official says the dispute is now being discussed at”higher levels.”
What could the pressers be hiding? What's the penalty for cocaine possession in China?
All they will find is a little doobie, loads of locally manufactured Birkenstocks, and well-thumbed copies of "Earth in the Balance".
I bet I know why the Chinese are freaked out!
"..discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will have its challenges as well.
The world's largest retailer, whose July sales results were slightly below Wall Street estimates, said that it's seeing customers increasingly unable to stretch their dollars to the next payday. It also predicted that August's sales pace would be slower than July."
Target reports similarly.
People may have stopped buying rubber sqeaky toys, and that's the end of China's economy.
“The White House refused, and so no one on the plane has been allowed to get off. A White House official says the dispute is now being discussed at”higher levels.”
Bush and the Chinese leaders are probably peeking around a corner and laughing.
Maybe it was rumored that Helen Thomas was aboard! That
would be reason enough!
Well if they made a deal and broke it, screw ‘em. But I don’t know why they made such a deal... let a plane full of media smuggle grass and oxycontin into China?