Envoy Fails To Soothe Beijing

A U.S. envoy failed to convince Chinese officials that NATO bombed China's embassy in Yugoslavia by mistake, ending a mission to Beijing Thursday with relations still in disrepair.

China said it was impossible that the United States did not know the location of the embassy in Belgrade. It rejected Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering's explanation of the attack as "unconvincing" and repeated calls for severe punishment of those responsible.

"The Chinese government and people cannot accept the conclusion that the bombing was a mistake," state media said Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told Pickering. "The U.S. side must make a satisfactory explanation."

The Chinese rejection dashed hopes that Pickering's visit would reverse the damage to U.S.-China relations caused by the May 7 bombing.

China offered no sign it was ready to resume military relations and other contacts with Washington (including talks on China's entry into the World Trade Organization) that Beijing suspended in anger over the attack.

Instead, Beijing added a new demand: that the United States pay prompt and adequate compensation for the deaths of three Chinese reporters, injuries to 20 others and property damage. A B-2 bomber hit the embassy with five 2,000-pound satellite-guided bombs.

Pickering offered compensation, and talks will work out the details, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue said.

Zhang said China valued relations with the United States, but responsibility for restoring normal ties was up to the United States.

Washington must "face squarely" the serious consequences of what she called the "surprise attack," severely punish those responsible and give a fuller explanation, Zhang said.

Pickering spent much of Wednesday briefing Deputy Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on how U.S. targeters mistook the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade for a Yugoslav military procurement center. The U.S. envoy then met Foreign Minister Tang.

He also delivered a letter from President Clinton to Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

"We don't have any illusions that they are going to turn on a dime," said Susan Shirk, deputy assistant secretary of state. "In the end, [they may] never buy what they would say is our version of the facts."

Shirk said the atmosphere was friendly and both sides want steady relations.

Written by John Leicester