Yesterday UNS marked the 25 year of the NATO bombing of China’s Embassy in Belgrade in which three Chinese journalists were killed. Twenty Chinese nationals were wounded in the 1999 NATO attack, which promted outrage in China and an apology from then U.S. President Bill Clinton.
UNS laid a wreath at the place where Chinese journalists were killed in the bombing of the Chinese Embassy – They are not only Chinese journalists, they are also our journalists.
“The fallen fellow journalists joined our ranks with their lives and their deaths, and they are not only journalists from China, they are also our journalists,” RTS journalist and member of the UNS Management Board Olivera Kovačević said at the place where she is today 25 years ago, in the NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia, the Chinese Embassy was destroyed, when three Chinese journalists were killed.
Representatives of the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), led by UNS President Živojin Rakočević, paid tribute to their Chinese colleagues today and laid a wreath at the site of the demolished embassy in Trešnjino cveta Street in New Belgrade. The wreath reads: “Xu Xinghu, Zhu Ying, Shao Yunhuan, we will always remember you. Association of Journalists of Serbia”.
Three Chinese journalists were killed in the bombing of the Chinese Embassy, the correspondents of the newspaper “Guangming Daily” Zhu Ying and Xu Xinghu, as well as the journalist of the Xinhua News Agency Shao Yunhuan.
“I come from Radio and Television of Serbia, a crime happened at RTS when 16 workers lost their lives in the NATO bombing. Their families, their fellow employees know what kind of trauma it entails and what consequences it leaves not only on their families, but also on the wider environment. We only assume what consequences it left for families who are thousands of kilometers away from our country,” said Olivera Kovačević.
That, she pointed out, is another warning that the war carries a terrible senselessness, just as it was completely senseless that the Chinese embassy and the killing of our fellow journalists were collateral damage,” said Olivera Kovačević.
Subotica journalist and UNS member Branko Žujović said that he had the honor and pleasure of working with a fourth colleague – Wang Jimin, who was supposed to be with the three journalists who died at the Embassy, but who was not among them due to circumstances. ”
“That experience made me think about something else, outside the context of the tragedy itself. The Chinese Cultural Center was born at the place of suffering and I think it is very important that we all understand that even at the place of suffering it is necessary to continue – with spirituality, education, culture. That’s how to fight back. That is the only real measure of retribution for crime,” said Žujović.
The Chinese Embassy was hit on May 7, 1999 by three missiles. The southern part of the building was hit by two rockets – one on the top floor and the other on the ground floor. The third projectile demolished the ground floor and basement of the western part of the building in New Belgrade.
A memorial plaque was placed at the site of the bombing of the Chinese embassy in 2009.
*Source: This article is from the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS)
