After more than a week of demanding an official apology from the United States over the collision of an American spy plane with a Chinese fighter jet, Chinese leaders on Wednesday released the 24 American crew members who were being held in seclusion.

Headlines in Beijing papers are declaring, “America Finally Apologizes,” but the U.S. claims that an apology never took place. So, the question remains, how sorry are we?

While U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prueher delivered a letter to Chinese foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan, that stated America was sorry for landing where we did not have clearance and expressed sincere regret over the loss of a Chinese pilot, the U.S. never apologized for the incident. In fact, the Chinese word for what would be considered a full-fledged apology, daoqian, never appeared in the letter.

According to Secretary of State Colin Powell, “To apologize would have suggested that we did something wrong… and therefore it was not possible to apologize.” Instead, it seems, we avoided an international crisis by diplomatically skirting the issue.

What do you think about how the Bush Administration handled this foreign affairs incident? Should the U.S. have accepted complete responsibility for the crash? Do you agree with the Bush Administration’s decision to say “we are very sorry” for landing where we did not have clearance? Do you think this incident will have a negative effect on our future relations with China?