Netizens slam US hegemony in memory of 1999 NATO attack

Twenty-one years after a brutal missile attack on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Chinese people cannot forget the sorrow and humiliation it caused, flooding to the internet to commemorate the martyrs and slamming American hegemony and its incompetence, especially in light of the US’ “pathetic” COVID-19 response.

Chinese netizens started to commemorate the martyrs online from early Friday morning. They expressed disappointment in the so-called American democracy, referring to the US’ performance in the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their trade war against China in recent years.

The attack happened on May 7 midnight (5 am on May 8 in Beijing), 1999, killing three Chinese journalists. It was reportedly carried out by US warplanes as part of a NATO operation.

A survey released by US think tank Eurasia Group Foundation in April showed Chinese attitudes toward the US political system and global influence have grown increasingly negative, and this sentiment is expected to continue after the pandemic, which will be reflected in next year’s report, Chinese analysts said.

The Chinese Embassy in Belgrade held a ceremony on Thursday at the site where the attack occurred to commemorate the three reporters. Chinese Ambassador Chen Bo and Serbia’s Labor Minister Zoran Djordjevic attended.

Predrag Markovic, director of the Institute for Contemporary History in Serbia and vice president of the Socialist Party of Serbia, told the Global Times on Friday that the bombing of the Chinese Embassy has shown two typical traits of US politics.

“The first is arrogance. The US demonstrated disrespect for both international law and diplomatic rules. The other is incompetence. Officially, they claimed that pilots had wrong city maps. Looking at the pathetic US performance during the pandemic and other crises, we cannot dismiss this aspect,” Markovic said.