Chinese leader Xi remembers bomb victims on visit to Belgrade, Serbia
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This article by Jörg Kronauer was published in the German daily newspaper, junge Welt, on May 8 (jungewelt.de). Workers World brings it to the attention of our readers as it is a succinct summary of the Chinese leader’s European trip and underlines the consequences of aggression against diplomatic b

China’s President Xi Jinping was expected in the Serbian capital on Tuesday evening [May 7] to mark the 25th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Beijing’s embassy in Belgrade. “We must not forget that NATO brazenly bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia 25 years ago,” said Xi in a statement published in his name by the Serbian daily Politika on Tuesday.

Washington had officially called the attack, in which three Chinese died and 20 others were injured, an “accident.” Xi reiterated that the Chinese people would “never allow historical tragedies to happen again.” According to reports, he wanted to commemorate the victims on the former embassy grounds on Tuesday evening.

While Xi particularly wants to promote economic relations in Serbia — and then on the third and final stop of his current European tour, in Hungary — he had previously advocated an international peace conference to end the war in Ukraine in his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris. This conference must, however, be recognized equally by Kiev and Moscow, Xi emphasized, distancing himself from the planned meeting in Switzerland in June [that excludes Russia].

Macron and von der Leyen once again tried to get Xi to publicly distance himself from Vladimir Putin and thus drive a wedge between Beijing and Moscow, but were unsuccessful.