The Chinese see more clearly than we do that - so far - they have won and we have lost

From the Washington Post

President George W Bush has received broad political and public support for the way he handled the crisis.

And while most of the newspapers express relief at the return of the crew, there is much talk of weakness, loss of influence and problems ahead.

Not the end

America's "humiliating apology" was the product of "Chinese extortion", and not "high diplomacy", say two writers in the Washington Post.

"The Chinese see more clearly than we do that - so far - they have won and we have lost," they say.

China assumed a new position of power

From the LA Times

In the same newspaper, another critic warns that "short-term diplomacy" can bring "long-term dangers".

"Visions of squeezing 'very very sorry' out of Colin Powell the next time already dance in Beijing's imaginations."

In the Los Angeles Times commentators deal more blows to the Bush administration's handling of the crisis.

"China assumed a new position of power. And it probably walked off with a technological advancement capable of preserving its underwater secrets and preventing the US from successfully completing the very tasks those US reconnaissance flights were meant to execute," reads one article.

In the same pages, another critic notes that being "number one only counts if you have influence", and America's, he says, has been declining.

Taking a different line, analysts in the New York Times say the Mr Bush had to suppress his own hawkish instincts and those of others in the cabinet in order to take a conciliatory approach with China.

But, as all the American papers caution, this is not the end of the story.