WASHINGTON – Protests around the U.S. Embassy in Beijing eased today as Chinese citizens were finally told that President Clinton and NATO leaders had apologized for bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
Ambassador Jim Sasser was finally able to leave the battered U.S. Embassy compound and headed for a nearby diplomatic apartment complex.
Streets around the embassy were quiet today as state television showed the arrival of a plane bearing the ashes of three Chinese journalists killed in a U.S./NATO bombing raid on Belgrade.
Chinese flags flew at half-mast, and state TV showed bereaved relatives wearing black.
NATO embassies and consulates showed respect by also flying their flags at half-mast.
Diplomats were worried the TV broadcast would spark more protests, but police seemed to be controlling the situation.
Sasser said he hoped U.S.-China relations would recover from the bombing and the protests.
Chinese authorities have given every appearance of condoning the embassy protests, in which demonstrators threw rocks, stink bombs and paint at the U.S. compound.
Until yesterday, China’s state-run media never mentioned the NATO apologies – and Chinese news reports have also largely ignored Serbian atrocities in Kosovo.
President Jiang Zemin called the embassy bombing in Belgrade “a provocation to 1.2 billion Chinese people.”
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said the idea that the government condoned the protests “is a misunderstanding.”
Zhu, however, also discounted NATO claims that China’s embassy in Yugoslavia was targeted by mistake.
“How could the joint intelligence source of the most powerful military alliance in the world mistakenly identify the location of a large diplomatic mission with a big courtyard, plate on the front door and flying the national flag?” Zhu asked.
NATO countries plan further overtures to China – German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder arrived in Beijing today for meetings with top Chinese leaders.
White House officials said they understood the emotional reaction of the Chinese. “Just imagine if the roles were reversed,” one aide said.
But there also was frustration that Clinton’s many overtures have been spurned.
Elsewhere on the war front:
*Targets in central and western Serbia and the Kosovo capital of Pristina were struck by NATO bombs last night. Serbian media claimed there were civilian casualties in a raid on the town of Vladicin Han, including a 3-year-old girl who was killed.
*Despite Serbian claims of a withdrawal, rebel sources say fighting in Kosovo continues. Three Kosovar rebels were killed and 20 were hospitalized in fighting near the Albanian border.
*Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is holding his own against Clinton in U.S. polls. A new Gallup survey shows 36 percent of Americans believe Clinton is winning the war, and 35 percent believe Milosevic is winning.
*In Buenos Aires yesterday, more than 200 Chinese-Argentine demonstrators, carrying red flowers, pictures of embassy victims and anti-Clinton signs, hurled eggs at the U.S. Embassy.