Foreign Minister Phi Goff has welcomed the release of the US aircrew who have been held on Hainan Island.

"The stand-off which developed over the mid-air collision had the potential to badly damage the relationship between China and the United States. That would have been in the interest of neither country and would have threatened stability and security in the region.

"Negotiators on both sides deserve credit for preventing the incident from developing into a more serious situation. The letter from US Ambassador Prueher to Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Tang enables both countries to feel that honour is satisfied.

"The affair however is a reminder that we cannot simply take good international relationships for granted and that a much more dangerous situation could have developed had nationalistic passions been allowed to boil over," Mr Goff said.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>