Telesur
May 8, 2023

Serbia and China Mark Anniversary of Embassy Bombing by NATO

The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia started on March 24, 1999. Over the course of 78 days, 2,500 people were killed and thousands of people more were wounded.

On Sunday, the Serbians and the Chinese gathered at the site of the bombed former Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in Belgrade to mark the 24th anniversary of the killing of three Chinese journalists in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) aggression on Yugoslavia in 1999.

China’s Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo, Serbian Minister of Sport Zoran Gajic, and dozens of officials and civilians laid wreaths and flowers at the memorial monument to honor the victims – Shao Yunhuan of Xinhua News Agency, and Xu Xinghu and his wife Zhu Ying of the Guangming Daily newspaper.

Gajic said that the Chinese Embassy bombing was a cowardly act conducted by the NATO aggressors, “in order to plant the seed of evil.”

“It is upon us to remember and recall and pray for all of those people who lost their lives, and also to pray for those who survived, and let them come to their senses, so we could pursue a brighter future, and become a happier humankind,” Gajic said.

Chen said that the martyrs of the bombing were “brutally killed,” but that 24 years later, a growing trend of peaceful development brings hope to humanity.

“Twenty-four years have passed, the international situation has undergone tremendous changes, and China and the world have also undergone earth-shaking changes. Although power politics and hegemonism are still the most profound root causes of today’s world turmoil, the forces committed to peaceful development are getting stronger,” she said.

“Now more and more countries and people agree on the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind. I firmly believe that more and more countries and people will unite and work together to build a world of lasting peace and common prosperity,” Chen said.

The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia started on March 24, 1999. Over the course of 78 days, 2,500 people were killed and thousands of people more were wounded, while 25,000 homes and a third of the country’s energy sector were destroyed – often by illegal weapons such as cluster bombs and depleted uranium warheads.

On May 7, 1999, U.S.-led NATO forces carried out a brutal missile attack on the former Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which left three journalists working there dead, more than 20 people injured, and the embassy building severely damaged.

In the place of the ruined embassy building now stands a Chinese Cultural Centre, overlooking two memorial monuments that memorialize the tragedy that took place here 24 years ago.

Photo, below: Chinese students and faculty in the U.S. in 1999 protesting NATO’s destruction of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and the killing and wounding of 23 Chinese citizens. Xinhua.

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Xinhua News Agency
May 8, 2023

Serbia, China mark 24th anniversary of embassy bombing by NATO

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Serbians and the Chinese gathered at the site of the bombed former Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in Belgrade on Sunday to mark the 24th anniversary of the killing of three Chinese journalists in the 1999 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) aggression on Yugoslavia.

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Eurasian Times
May 8, 2023

China Will Never Forget ‘Barbaric Crimes’ Of US-Led NATO In Yugoslavia – Chinese Foreign Ministry

The Chinese people will never forget the barbaric crimes that NATO committed in Yugoslavia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

On March 24, 1999, NATO commenced air strikes against Yugoslavia. On May 7, five bombs hit the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three people and injuring over 20.

“The Chinese people will never forget the blood and the lives that it gave for the protection of truth, honesty, and justice. And it will never forget the barbaric crimes of US-led NATO as well,” Wang told a briefing.

He pointed out that, on the one hand, NATO portrays itself as a regional defense alliance, but on the other hand, it constantly heightens regional tensions and generates bloc adversities.

“Following the end of the Cold War, US-led NATO has repeatedly stirred up conflicts all over the world, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Kosovo, from Iraq to Afghanistan, from Libya to Syria,” the spokesman said.

He emphasized that NATO continues to expand its presence to the East, to the Asia-Pacific region, creating bloc opposition and disrupting regional peace and stability.

“US-led NATO needs to give serious thought to its crimes, to completely abandon its outdated, Cold War era mentality and to stop provoking regional conflicts and causing discord and riots,” Wang said.

In 1999, an armed confrontation between Albanian separatists from the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Serbian army led to a bombing of what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, by NATO forces.

The operation was undertaken without the approval of the UN Security Council and was based on allegations by Western countries that the Yugoslav authorities were allegedly carrying out ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians.

NATO airstrikes continued from March 24 to June 10, 1999, and claimed the lives of over 2,500 people, including 87 children.