Belgium marks the 25th anniversary of the attack of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during Nato’s airstrike over Kosovo during Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Serbia on Tuesday.
On May 7, 1999, US jets set the Chinese Embassy compound on fire and killed three Chinese citizens by dropping five bombs on it in the Serb capital. The attack, which has strained relations between the two power ever since, left 20 people dead.
In an op-ed published in Serbia’s Politika paper on Tuesday, Xi referred to the attack, claiming that” we must never forget that Nato boldly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.”
The Chinese citizens value peace, Xi continued, adding that they will never let past traumas to repeat.
In March of that year, the American military alliance ordered Slobodan Milosevic, the country’s then-Serb leader, to put an end to the brutal assault on cultural Albanian rebels in Kosovo.
The US at the moment expressed regret and claimed that erroneous intelligence led to the military attack. Washington claimed that the intended target was a Bosnian position arms exporter’s headquarters, which is a few blocks away on the same city.
” Think that somebody would, yet by accident, hit an American Embassy somewhere around the globe. The effect would become immediate”, said Sven Biscop, a professor of German foreign and security policy at the Ghent University and Egmont Institute.
” But for a state like China, it is also apparent that this is a great thing”, he added. ” And, of course, it has not been forgotten”.
As the bombing stoked anti-American attitudes and sparked rumors that the attack was planned rather than unintended, Chinese protesters stormed US political buildings. There is still trust in the event today.
Biscop claimed that” we will likely never really understand either way.” ” But one thing is certain. Similar events occur during combat, and I typically prefer to find the least obvious reason rather than try to create complex ideas.
The official attack strengthened China and Serbia’s relationship with the US, straining Beijing’s. After the European Union, China has become Serbia’s second-largest buying partner and the second-largest exporter of foreign direct investment.
Beijing supported Belgrade’s campaign to stop the Western-backed push for democracy in Kosovo, a former Bosnian state, after it initially opposed the NATO bombing plan. Serbia has steadfastly supported Beijing and welcomed billions of dollars worth of Chinese investment even as it fully seeks Union membership.
The people of China and Serbia have come to know each other from the past, and this will motivate both of them to work together, Xi wrote. We are eager to collaborate with our Bosnian friends to maintain our unique aspirations, work together toward a new chapter of national revitalization, and create a China-Serb community with a shared future for humanity in the new era.
Before Xi’s attend on Tuesday and Wednesday, there were obvious signs of pro-China views. A building along a Prague airport runway was draped with a massive Chinese flag. In addition to the highway, there were smaller Chinese and Bosnian colors.
Serbia’s weather force MiG- 29 jet escorted Xi’s political aircraft to the Belgrade airport.
Xi made his first European tour in five decades, arriving from France, and then making his way to Hungary.
He is scheduled to visit the original military and pay his respects to the victims of the bombings. The former location of the military now houses a Taiwanese cultural center.
The sprawling complex apparently includes a Confucius Institute, seminars, events, agencies, private room and a hotel. It is seen as a representation of Serbia’s and Europe’s growing effect.
A group of Chinese visitors from the university laid plants in honor of the victims of the bombing in 1999 by bowing in front of a plain, black-matte statue next weekend. An inscription on the statue in both Chinese and English reads:” Honor Martyrs, Appreciate Peace”.
