Though the American crew of the EP-3E surveillance plane was returned to the U.S. last week after its collision with the Chinese F-8 fighter over the South China Sea, tension between the two nations is far from eased, and whether or not the 2008 Olympic Games are held in Beijing may be one of the lesser of China’s future plans in a precarious position.

Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-New Jersey, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Illinois, who is chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona are among those leading the Congressional discussion of implementing sanctions against China.

“I hate on Easter morning to talk about retribution, but there's gonna be retribution,” Torricelli said.

Toricelli, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said that the credibility of the United States was at stake. “Great powers that allow their interests to be compromised with impunity do not remain great powers very long,” he said.

Toricelli also said that Bush should cancel his planned trip to China this October, and also that Congress should reconsider the extension of China’s permanent trade relations status, which comes up for vote in June.

Last year, the House and Senate had approved permanent normalized trade relations for China, after extensive debate and political maneuvering. The one condition of that status was China’s being granted entry into the World Trade Organization. Since this hasn’t happened yet, the issue will probably be taken up again in late June or early July.

With the support of the other lawmakers, Toricelli also said that the 10-day standoff bolstered the argument for selling military equipment to Taiwan, which China opposes.

Hyde, has said that as long as China holds the Navy aircraft, he would also vote against the trade status bill.

“It still is our plane,” said Hyde. “It's not a trophy for them to confiscate.”

The return of the plane will likely be discussed at Wednesday’s meeting in Beijing between

Chinese and U.S. diplomats, the larger agenda for which is discussion of the cause of the collision between the two crafts.

Kyl told CNN’s “Late Edition” that he was also considering sanctions against China.

“Well, there are several actions that we can take,” Kyl said. “Of course, we have the question of the arms sales to Taiwan that we'll have to deal with next week. We have the question of extending the PNTR, the permanent trade relations with China. We have questions that will define our long-term relationship in terms of the way that we continue to deal with China in its buildup of military arms across the Taiwan Straits.”

However, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also on “Late Edition”, said that consideration of sanctions might be premature.

“I would rather keep on approaching it the way the Bush administration approached the whole issue eventually, which was, you know, with calm, with common sense, with reserve,” Boxer said. “And I think that is the first thing we need to do before we move forward on anything else.”

“It's been resolved, and that's good,” said a House Democratic leadership aide, “but any time anything like this happens, it's not a step in the right direction. The behavior of the Chinese doesn't give a great deal of confidence to people who are concerned about their membership in the international community.”

Rep. Robert Matsui (Calif,), who served as the Democratic point man for the pro-PNTR forces last year, maintains an optimistic outlook for China, however, saying that its behavior hurt its image, but probably not fatally.

“I frankly think that it's a situation where the line was not actually crossed in terms of long-term damage,” Matsui said. “Had we come back from the recess and the [military personnel] were not released, I think then that would have been crossing the line.”

China may have “missed an opportunity” by not releasing the crew immediately, and instead “left a bad taste” in the mouths of lawmakers, said Matsui, but he does not believe the incident has doomed their chances to win another vote on the normalization of trade relations.

Trade ministry spokesman Gao Yan said linking the April 1 collision with normal trade relations would greatly damage economic relations between China and the United States.

“China doesn't wish to fight a trade war with any country,” Gao was quoted by Xinhua, China’s news agency, as telling a trade fair in Guangzhou, a city in southern China.

As far as the issue of the 2008 Olympic issue goes, Yang Jiechi, Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., sent a letter to several members of Congress reminding them “that it is entirely under the jurisdiction of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to judge whether a city is suitable for the Games,” warning them no “to obstruct” Beijing’s bid.

Those who have expressed concern about the games taking place in China have repeated sentiments of lawmakers who say that Beijing should not be allowed to host the games unless its government improves its human rights record.

Lawmakers’ reactions to Jiechi’s letter have included both defiance and confusion.

“What he in effect said was that it was none of our business and we should stay out of it,” Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) said of the missive, which was sent to his office even though he had not made any public statements about the Olympics issue.

Since receiving the letter, Bartlett has become a co-sponsor of the House resolution.

“It seems to me it was a mistake by Chinese officials to bring the Olympics into this dialogue when so much more was and continues to be at stake,” Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, agreed.