Chinese President criticises NATO bombing in 1999 ahead of trip to Serbia

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will travel to Belgrade tonight, criticised NATO for its "blatant" bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999, and warned that Beijing will not let "such a tragic history repeat itself". 

Xi made this warning in the Serbian daily Politika, hours before his arrival in Belgrade, the next stop on his first European tour since Covid, after France. 

His visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing that killed three people and was attributed to a CIA mapping error. 

In 1999, the Atlantic Alliance conducted a bombing campaign against Serb targets during the Kosovo war. 

"Twenty-five years ago today, NATO flagrantly bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, killing three Chinese journalists," Xi noted in his text in Politika.  

"We must never forget this. The Chinese people love peace, but we will never allow such a tragic history to repeat itself," he warned. 

Xi will arrive in Belgrade on Tuesday evening after a state visit to France, where he has discussed with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, issues of the war in Ukraine and global trade imbalances. 

His next stops, in Serbia and Hungary, are in two countries considered more favourable to Russia, which launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.