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| CHINESE EMBASSY BOMBED | |
 May 8, 1999
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NATO today confirmed that it had struck the Chinese embassy in Belgrade with multiple bombs, killing three and wounding 20. -- Posted at 1:15 PM EDT |
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NATO military spokesman Major General Walter Jertz explained that the Alliance had misidentified the embassy as a "legitimate military target." "We hit the wrong building," Gen. Jertz told reporters. "We thought it was the headquarters of the Federal Directorate of Supply and Procurement." NATO said it was investigating how the embassy had been identified as a Yugoslav government building, but would not elaborate further..
The attack evoked diplomatic action at the United Nations and protests in Beijing and Hong Kong. Chinese U.N. ambassador Qin Huasun angrily denounced the attack as a "crime of war" at a late-night emergency Security Council meeting in New York. "The Chinese government expressed their utmost indignation and severe condemnation of the barbarian act," Qin said in an opening statement at the council's open session, held early Saturday. "U.S.-led NATO should bear all responsibilities arising from this." China asked the council to condemn the strike as a violation of international law. Although the council did not agree to the request, the council president, Ambassador Denis Dangue Rewaka of Gabon, emerged from the closed portion of the session at 3:20 A.M. to report that the council members "expressed their shock and concern over the casualties and damage" and "expressed their sympathy and condolences to the Chinese Government and the families of the victims." In Beijing over a thousand protesters converged on the U.S. embassy, pelting it with rocks and debris and wrestling with police. The crowd also attempted to light fire to embassy vehicles and shouted anti-American and anti-NATO slogans. The strike on the embassy came on a night of heavy NATO bombing. Targets in downtown Belgrade, the power system for the city and several fuel and weapons depots were struck. NATO also confirmed a second accidental bombing in the Yugoslav city of Nis. According the Alliance sources, a NATO aircraft accidentally dropped a cluster bomb on a civilian area Thursday night. Yugoslav media reported 15 had been killed and dozens wounded in the strike, but NATO could not confirm these numbers. "A great deal was done accurately and professionally," NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said. "But everything is overshadowed by one very, very bad mistake." |
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The
attack, called a "barbarian" act by the Chinese government,
has left the diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in doubt and strained
relations between the U.S. and China. 
In
Yugoslavia, firefighters, Chinese embassy personnel and others attempted
to assist the wounded and search for survivors in the burning wreckage
of the relatively new embassy.
