Chinese Diplomats Visit Bombing Site

Gathering amid the rubble left by NATO missiles, Chinese diplomats and Yugoslav officials condemned the air attack that destroyed China’s embassy in the Yugoslav capital a year ago. “It was a crime that NATO committed in violation of all international norms and principles,” said Pan Zhanlien, China’s ambassador to Belgrade, standing on top of shattered glass and chunks of concrete at the embassy compound. Three Chinese journalists died in the night raid, while 20 other people, mostly embassy staff, were injured. At the bomb site, the ambassador placed flowers as dozens of Chinese diplomats, about 100 Chinese immigrants in Yugoslavia, diplomats from Russia and Belarus and Yugoslav government officials looked on. Yugoslavia’s deputy foreign minister, Zoran Novakovic, said, “We are standing at the site of a crime unprecedented in international relations.”