Embassy Staff’s Families Begin Returning to Beijing
Family members of the U.S. Embassy staff returned for an emotional reunion today, more than two months after their diplomatic housing compound came under Chinese artillery fire and they were forced to leave the country.
U.S. Ambassador James Lilley and staff members waving American flags and clutching bunches of flowers waited in the arrival lounge of Beijing Airport for a United Airlines flight from Tokyo carrying the first 31 dependents of 260 relatives returning to Beijing.
“It’s about time,” Lilley said as he rushed to meet his wife, Sally, and their dachshund Jo-Jo. “Our people should be with their families. We’ve got to get on with life here.”
The State Department, which evacuated dependents of embassy staff in the wake of the June 7 shooting incident, last week modified a blanket advisory against travel to China that effectively allowed the family members to return.
Lilley said, however, that the warning on “non-essential” travel to China will stay in effect “as long as there are soldiers running around with guns.”
Chinese troops still guard key intersections and set up checkpoints at night, apparently searching for weapons lost during the military crackdown on the student-led democracy movement.
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