U.S. envoy fails to soothe Chinese

U.S. envoy fails to soothe Chinese

BEIJING (AP): A U.S. envoy failed to convince Chinese officials that NATO bombed China's embassy in Yugoslavia by mistake, ending his crucial mission to Beijing on Thursday with relations still in disrepair.

Chinese foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan rejected Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering's explanation of the May 7 bombing as "unconvincing", the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

"The Chinese government and people cannot accept the conclusion that the 'bombing was a mistake'," Xinhua paraphrased Tang as telling Pickering during their Wednesday meeting. "The U.S. side must make a satisfactory explanation."

Members of Pickering's delegation also said that despite more than five hours of talks Wednesday, Chinese government and military officials remained skeptical that a series of mistakes led NATO to accidentally target the embassy in Belgrade.