Embassy Bombing Comes at Worst Time for China-West Relations
BEIJING, May. 08, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) NATO's missile attack on China's embassy in Belgrade comes at the worst possible time as far as relations between China and the West are concerned, with ties already strained by the six-week Kosovo campaign.
The attack, which killed at least three people and injured more than 20, was strongly condemned by Beijing as a "barbarian act" and a war crime that must be punished.
The UN Security Council, meeting in emergency session at China's request, expressed "shock and concern." It noted the regrets expressed and said NATO was investigating Friday night's attack.
NATO and the United States expressed regret at the accident but said the air campaign against Yugoslavia would continue.
The Chinese government in a statement said it "reserved the right to take other measures." It recalled its hostility to the bombing and missile attacks since they began March 24.
China, which doubts the existence of "ethnic cleansing" by Serb forces in Kosovo, is a permanent member of the Security Council with the right to veto any initiative over the province.
The accidental attack will complicate the search for a settlement at the UN. It happened the day after Russia and the other seven members of the G-8 group reached partial agreement on a deal to end the Kosovo crisis including the sending of an international force.
On Friday China expressed doubt about that accord, insisting that the Belgrade government had to be included in any solution to end NATO raids.
China, itself subject to international sanctions after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, opposes in principle all intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. It also rejects Western criticism of its human rights record and its record in Tibet.
Beijing also depicts itself, since the break-up of the Soviet Union, as one of the only powers capable of resisting the "hegemony" of the US. Fearful of encirclement, it opposes both the enlargement of NATO and military cooperation between the US and Japan.
The bombardment of Belgrade came as relations with the US were already at their lowest -- almost a year after President Bill Clinton's visit to Beijing which revived top-level dialogue after nine years of tension following Tiananmen.
At the end of April China denounced the US decision to sell two sophisticated long-range defense radar systems to Taiwan.
It has also protested a US proposal to include Japan and South Korea in a theater missile defense (TMD) system. It fears the eventual inclusion of Taiwan in TMD, which it says would constitute "an attack on Chinese sovereignty and integrity and at the same time an interference in China's internal affairs."
Washington for its part criticizes Beijing's huge trade surplus with it and suspects China of having stolen nuclear secrets.
The disputes have played a part in preventing the two countries reaching agreement on China's entry to the World Trade Organization despite major concessions offered by Premier Zhu Rongji in Washington last month.
Zhu attributed this setback to an "anti-Chinese climate" prevalent in the US. ( (c) 1999 Agence France Presse)
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