Chinese Attack U.S. Missions as Protests Intensify

Chinese protesters infuriated by the deadly NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia continued violent demonstrations into their third day today, attacking American diplomatic missions across the country and trapping the American ambassador inside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

“No question that we’re hostages here,” James R. Sasser told CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation” by telephone on Sunday. “I think this demonstration is now exceeding government expectations, and there’s always the danger that it’s going to go out of control.”

Thirteen people besides Sasser were stuck inside the compound.

“It is not safe,” an embassy staff member said today by phone. “We’re not going near any windows.”

In a travel advisory issued late Sunday, the State Department said it “strongly urges” U.S. citizens to defer travel to China “until the situation stabilizes.” U.S. diplomatic missions in the country have reduced their staffs and closed their doors until Wednesday. Americans in China should remain in or close to their homes or hotels and avoid crowds, the advisory warned, adding that “conditions remain volatile.” It added that airports are open, and “Americans who wish to leave should be able to do so.”

The NATO strike early Saturday on China’s mission in Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, killed three Chinese journalists and injured 20 other people in the diplomatic building, which would normally be considered a safe zone in war. A statement issued late Saturday by Defense Secretary William S. Cohen and CIA Director George J. Tenet called the bombing “an error” caused by “faulty information.”

The incident has left China’s relations with the United States at the direst point since the two countries established ties 20 years ago.

Carefully built connections began to unravel today as China announced that it was canceling high-level military and human rights contacts with Washington. Areas affected included arms control, international security and the prevention of arms proliferation.

In a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy here, Sasser and his staff expressed their “profound sorrow” at the bombing and offered condolences to families of the victims. But China’s state-controlled media failed to report either that statement or an expression of regret by President Clinton.

Instead, most Chinese newspapers carried bold headlines Sunday attacking NATO and the U.S. “NATO owes China a debt of blood,” declared the Xinmin Daily in Shanghai.

The state’s support of the protests could turn out to be a double-edged sword, however. Both Western and Chinese officials worry that the Chinese government is stoking a fury that may be growing greater than authorities’ ability to channel it.

“The government wants the people to calm down,” said a Chinese government official who asked not to be named. “But they are very angry and difficult to control.”

Demonstrations Saturday that involved mostly students quickly expanded in dozens of cities Sunday to include blue- and white-collar workers and even families with children. City buses were pressed into service in the capital to ferry protesters to the leafy avenue lined with Western embassies where the U.S. mission is located, and official signs directed marchers on a recommended route.

From in front of the embassy, tens of thousands of people hurled bricks, paint and flaming tires at the embassy buildings, shattering nearly all the windows and defacing the brown facades with red and black spatters of paint.

“Blood for blood!” marchers shouted Sunday. “Down with the USA!” Molotov cocktails lobbed through embassy windows started two small fires inside the building, which were extinguished by Marine guards, embassy officials said.

An embassy spokesman said today that officials there felt that crowds were not being controlled by the police. “We are under siege,” he said.

The British and Albanian embassies were also targeted.

About 7,000 police officers have been dispatched to protect the embassy compound, including about 1,000 around the U.S. Embassy, said the director of Beijing’s bureau of public security, Qiang Wei.

In the western city of Chengdu, protesters had set the U.S. consul’s residence ablaze late Saturday night, forcing the staff and families to be evacuated.

Chinese authorities, while encouraging “legal protests,” may be growing wary of the effects of their own propaganda and the possibility that the high-running emotion could rebound against the government. The rallies are a surprising exception to the strict controls placed on public gatherings in the run-up to the 10th anniversary of the June 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests. In this politically sensitive time, when unemployment and economic uncertainty abound, allowing people to gather in protest has risks.

In a nationally televised speech Sunday evening, Vice President Hu Jintao attempted to rein in the protests to within government-sanctioned bounds and to convince the public that the regime had responded forcefully to the NATO attack. He also indicated that the protests did not mean an open season on foreigners living in China or on their property.

“We believe that the broad masses will . . . carry out the activities in good order and in accordance with law,” Hu said.

But on the streets, enraged masses scoffed at U.S. claims that the bombing of the Chinese Embassy was an accident. Echoing military experts interviewed on state TV, many said NATO’s high-tech munitions had been precisely guided to their target in a deliberate provocation. Many saw the bombing as an act of war against China.

“If you want to fight, then let’s fight,” one student yelled as his group marched under a banner that read, “We earnestly entreat President Jiang Zemin to declare war on the U.S.”

The bombing has swung Chinese sentiment to the side of government hard-liners who have resisted persistent efforts by Jiang and Premier Zhu Rongji to bolster shaky relations with Washington.

Analysts say the incident is likely to upset pending agreements with China on several fronts, including market-opening pledges made by Chinese officials during Zhu’s visit to the U.S. last month as part of Beijing’s bid to enter the World Trade Organization. China’s ambassador to the U.S., Li Zhaoxing, would not comment Sunday on whether Beijing would block a Group of 8 peace plan for the Kosovo region that is to be submitted to the United Nations.

“Events like this can reshuffle the deck,” said Jonathan Pollack, a senior analyst at the Rand Corp. think tank. “The embassy bombing simply cuts too deeply into nationalistic sentiments. . . . The Chinese are greatly aggrieved and for good reason.”

Another casualty of the bombing may be the Chinese people’s longtime affection for the U.S.

In Shanghai, while students hurled bottles, tomatoes and even cartons of ice cream at the U.S. Consulate building to protest “U.S. imperialism,” their tolerance for America’s so-called cultural imperialism remained intact.

But one student wearing a New York Yankees T-shirt flung a water bottle at the consulate, while another yelled, “Yankees go away!” Others passed around cases of Pepsi--to quench throats parched from yelling anti-American epithets.

*

Chu and Kuhn reported from Beijing and Farley from Shanghai. Times staff writer Bob Drogin in Washington contributed to this report.

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Anger Rages in China

Chinese students and residents gathered in numerous cities besides Beijing over the weekend to protest NATO’s bombing of the nation’s embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, which killed three Chinese journalists:

* Shanghai: Student protesters were allowed to gather outside the U.S. Consulate in China’s business capital Sunday in groups of 150 to 200, but police closed surrounding streets. White flowers of mourning and protest banners adorned the consulate’s gates. Protesters threw plastic bottles and trash into the compound. Hundreds of spectators, many with children, gathered to watch.

* Chengdu: More than 10,000 people marched past the U.S. Consulate on Sunday, shouting protest slogans and throwing rocks and trash into the compound, according to a U.S. official contacted by telephone. Protesters attacked the consulate late Saturday, injuring a Chinese guard and leaving the residence damaged by fire before police used tear gas to force them out.

* Guangzhou: More than 10,000 protesters marched past the U.S. Consulate on Sunday, throwing bottles, burning U.S. flags and chanting, “Down with NATO!” in the southern city 95 miles northwest of Hong Kong. The official New China News Agency put the number of demonstrators at close to 100,000 and said protesters also went to the British, French, Italian and Dutch consulates.

* Shenyang: A group of reporters wearing white paper flowers marched Sunday to the U.S. Consulate in the city 375 miles northeast of Beijing, according to the New China News Agency. It said they carried photos of two reporters killed in the bombing and a sign reading, “Protect the rights of journalists.”

* Nanjing: Thousands of university students marched Sunday through the city, which is about 170 miles west of Shanghai, shouting anti-NATO slogans, the news agency said.

* Xiamen: Thousands of students marched Sunday in the southeastern coastal city, shouting, “Condemn NATO atrocities!” and other slogans, the agency said.

* Xian: About 30,000 university students and 10,000 other residents of the city in Shaanxi province marched Saturday, shouting, “We want peace!” “Safeguard national sovereignty and dignity!” and other slogans, the agency reported.

* Hangzhou: More than 30,000 university students marched Saturday in the coastal city about 110 miles southwest of Shanghai, the agency said. They carried banners saying, “Protest against NATO’s criminal acts” and “Against NATO’s power politics.”

* Other cities: The news agency also reported that tens of thousands protested in Chongqing city, as well as in Kunming and Nanning in the south. It also reported large protests in Hefei, Zhengzhou and Nanchang in eastern China, in Jinan in coastal Shandong province and in Dalian and Changchun in the northeast.

Source: Associated Press