were performed. The incident occurred ten weeks after the inauguration of George W. Bush as president and was his first foreign policy crisis. Both sides were criticized after the event; the Chinese for making a bluff which was called without any real concessions from the American side other than the "Letter of the two sorries", and the U.S. first for being insensitive immediately after the event and later for issuing the letter rather than being more oppositional. The United States tried to be conciliatory in order to try to avoid Chinese objections to U.S. foreign policy, which became more important after the September 11 attacks and the beginning of the War on Terror. Among the Chinese public, the incident created negative feelings towards the United States and increased feelings of Chinese nationalism. After the collision, China's monitoring of reconnaissance flights became less aggressive for a period of time. As of 2011, flights of U.S. surveillance aircraft near the Chinese coastline continued as before the incident. Hainan is currently the home of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Hainan Submarine Base, an underground facility capable of supporting nuclear ballistic missile submarines. During March 2009, the USNS Impeccable, an ocean surveillance ship of the U.S. Navy, was on several occasions approached by Chinese ships and aircraft while operating south of Hainan, actions Pentagon officials characterized as "aggressive" and "harassment". In August 2014, the U.S. protested when a Chinese Shenyang J-11BH came within of a patrolling Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft and performed aerobatic maneuvers including a barrel roll. In May 2016, the U.S. protested when two Chinese Shenyang J-11BH aircraft reportedly came within of a U.S. EP-3 on "a routine" patrol approximately east of Hainan Island; China responded by demanding an end to U.S. surveillance near China. See also List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (2000–09) References Citations Sources Further reading Garver, John W. "Sino-American relations in 2001: the difficult accommodation of two great powers." International Journal 57.2 (2002): 283–310. online Espionage scandals and incidents China–United States military relations Signals intelligence Aviation accidents and incidents in China Aviation accidents and incidents in 2001 United States Navy in the 21st century Diplomatic incidents 2001 in China 2001 in the United States Conflicts in 2001 Military history of Hainan George W. Bush administration controversies Accidents and incidents involving United States Navy and Marine Corps aircraft Lockheed P-3 Orion April 2001 events in Asia