Discerning "continued movement" in their delicate discussions with the Chinese, US officials yesterday again emphasised the problems that the time-frame of the talks was presenting to the administration.
President Bush said simply that it was time the US crew came home.
"Diplomacy takes time," he said, but cautioned China that relations with the United States will suffer unless the 24 crew members of a US spy plane are released soon.
Refusing to take questions on the detail of the talks, the President's spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, did not however rule out any question of reparations to the Chinese, although the US is still ruling out any question of an apology.
By common consensus the search is on for a word or expression to use in a joint statement with the Chinese which goes further in Chinese than in English to express some degree of responsibility for the accident.
On Sunday the US Secretary of State floated "sorry" and "sorrow" as an advance on "regret", but, significantly, only in respect of the supposed death of the pilot, not the incident itself.
"We have expressed regrets, we've expressed our sorrow, and we are sorry that a life was lost. The question of apology is something quite different, because then we are being asked to accept responsibility," Mr Powell said.
"And that we have not done, can't do and therefore won't apologise."
Later, State Department officials went out of their way to make sure journalists had spotted the nuanced move. Most had not.
Yesterday, Mr Fleischer said that the expression of sorrow was simply a reflection of the best humanitarian instincts.
According to linguists the solution may hinge on a consonant. The US could use the term "bao qian" which has more of a hint of apology than "yihan" but is more ambiguous than "dao qian".
But the point is to go beyond repeating just "yihan" which has clearly not satisfied Beijing.
Craig Smith, the New York Times Beijing correspondent, writes that the Modern Chinese Dictionary, compiled by the Chinese Academy of Social Science's language institute in 1985, defines "yihan" as implying "internal remorse" and notes that in diplomacy it is used to express discontent.
"Qian" means "sorry". "Bao" means "to hold" and refers to the traditional clasping of hands in front of face during the bow of apology, while the more formal "dao" means "to say".
But "bao qian" has the distinct advantage of being translatable as "regret", while in Chinese being a vernacular expression of apology.
The words' meaning depends on the speaker's intention and does not necessarily imply the latter has made an error.
Sounds just the business.
