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.