MIM Notes 187 June 1 1999

U$ and its NATO cronies attack Chinese embassy

by MC206

One day after MIM wrote an article exposing the 
fact that the U$ and NATO were on the brink of a 
shooting war with Russia in the Balkans (see 
"Reading between the lines on Uncle Sam and 
Kosovo"), U$ and NATO planes bombed the Chinese 
embassy in Belgrade. Three Chinese citizens were 
killed and dozens were injured.

In response, thousands of protesters stormed the 
u$ embassy in Beijing and u$ consulates 
throughout China, throwing stones and wrecking 
cars. They also chanted slogans, such as "Down 
with u$ imperialism," "Down with u$ running 
dogs," and "Pay blood debts with blood," and 
equated Clinton with Hitler.

The Chinese government released a statement 
which criticized the NATO bombing for "killing 
and wounding large numbers of innocent 
civilians" and expressed "utmost indignation and 
severe condemnation of the barbarian act 
[bombing the Chinese embassy]." The statement 
continued:  "US-led NATO should bear all 
responsibilities arising therefrom. The Chinese 
government reserves the right to take further 
action on the matter."

"This is a criminal act," said one Chinese 
diplomat in Yugoslavia, "they can see this is a 
completely residential area." Western media - 
loathe to admit that the three missiles striking 
the embassy might have been intentional - 
originally guessed that a television station 500 
meters away (more than a quarter of a mile) away 
was NATO's target. NATO eventually admitted that 
the building was the target of the attack, but 
because of "faulty intelligence" NATO thought 
that the building was a Yugoslavian army supply 
center. The Chinese embassy was purpose-built 
for the Chinese several years earlier, so it was 
never used by the Yugoslavian army.

If intentional, this attack means that the U$ 
and NATO are now in a shooting war with China as 
well. Even if inadvertent, this attack will 
increase the probability of large scale war 
between big capitalist powers. Such a war will 
entail massive and pointless loss of life and 
might even lead to nuclear annihilation of the 
humyn species - which is why anti-imperialist 
and socialist revolution is imperative. Under 
imperialism, the small clashes endemic to 
capitalism can quickly become world wars.

China has criticized the U$ and NATO war in 
Yugoslavia from the beginning, saying for 
example that the U$ is thinking more about 
profits for arms dealers than about peace. Even 
though China is a state-capitalist country and 
has some self-interest in criticizing the U$, 
most of China's criticisms have been correct. 
The bombing of the Chinese embassy may be 
Amerika's subtle way of telling the Chinese to 
shut up and play ball.

Notes:

"China Says NATO Hit Belgrade Embassy, Four 
Missing," Reuters, 7 May 1999.

China strongly condemns NATO bombing, 
www.chinanews.org/News/990508-3.html

"China erupts in day of rage at NATO strike," 
Reuters, 8 May 8 1999.