June 02, 1999	atimes.com

China Post-Cox Report, Chinese even more inclined to see conspiracy By Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING - Any hope for a quick improvement in U.S.-China ties has been dashed by an American congressional report that claims Beijing has been stealing nuclear technology for 20 years. Coming on the heels of Chinese fury over the NATO's mistaken bombing of their embassy in Belgrade May 7, the allegations this week further sour the already testy atmosphere between the two countries. Although the anti-foreign riots that exploded in part of China after the May 7 attack on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade have died out, many people here continue to believe sincerely that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's bombing of the embassy - described by the U.S. President Bill Clinton as a ''tragic mistake'' - was intentional. The state-sanctioned media are driving home the message that the bombing and, now, the so-called Cox Report on nuclear spying are just parts of an elaborate plot to keep China from achieving its deserved and imminent greatness. ''Is there any relationship between this report and the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, reportedly because of a wrong map provided by the CIA?'' asks Yan Xuetong, a research fellow with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations. ''Is it to distract public attention, take revenge on China or damage Sino-U.S. ties?'' he continues, illustrating what is common sentiment here. The release of the Cox report came at a time when China was gripped by a strong nationalist and anti-foreign sentiment unleashed by the embassy bombing three weeks ago. The Communist Party's flagship newspaper People's Daily attributed the attack to ''aggressive foreign forces, jealous of China's swift development and growing international strength." It denounced the West's ''global strategy for world hegemony,'' claiming the U.S., in particular, as the only superpower, couldn't tolerate the growth of a socialist China. The long-awaited congressional report on China's alleged spying efforts is adding fuel to such sentiments. The 700-page document, released by a special House of Representatives Committee chaired by Representative Christopher Cox, asserts China obtained secret information on seven nuclear warheads and the neutron bomb in ''two decades of espionage'' at U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories. Saying China stole secrets on every major U.S. nuclear weapon over the past 20 years, the report adds that it is ''extremely likely'' that the espionage continues today. Some reports say that American intelligence agencies disagree with the conclusions of the Cox report and question its accuracy. Still, the denunciation from Beijing was swift and indignant. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said the charge in the Cox report that China has threatened the national security of the United States by stealing its military technology is groundless and done with ulterior motives. ''These sensational allegations are absurd,'' Zhu said. The report the spokesman said, was aimed at instigating anti-China sentiment and diverting people's attention from the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. Diplomats in Beijing believe that the NATO bombing and its extensive coverage in the press here have provided the government with a useful diversion from the 10th anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen massacre. ''Instead of having to apologize to their people for all the innocent victims the Communist Party ordered killed in 1989, the government is telling Chinese people now they deserve an apology from the West,'' says a Beijing-based diplomat. At the same time, there is little doubt that the NATO bombing which killed three Chinese journalists and injured 20 other embassy officials, sparked genuine anger in China. For days after the bombing, streets in Beijing and few other cities were filled with enraged crowds of students and workers who chanted ''blood for blood'' and asked for all ''foreign dogs'' to be killed. The government did not try to stop the demonstrators from damaging the embassies of the United States, Britain and Albania. On the contrary, it encouraged and channeled the riots, providing buses, banners and even stones for students from China's leading universities. Now, the feeling of anger has been set free and is out in the open. ''I never thought there was so much anger in China,'' says Lucie Kynge, a foreign resident in Beijing. ''The maids, the workers, the salesladies - everyone is angry. And we, the foreigners, are the scapegoats." While the authorities tried to control public's anger and give it a purely nationalistic spin, they do have something to worry about, not least because China has a disturbing record of anti- foreign demonstrations that later turned against the government. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, rebels fighting against the Western missionaries and their Christian converts launched a series of attacks on mission compounds and foreigners throughout the country and besieged the legation quarter in Beijing. The Qing Dynasty supported the rebels, with Empress Dowager Cixi issuing a ''declaration of war'' against the foreign powers and praising the Boxers as a loyal militia. The irony however is that, weakened equally by nationalist movements as by foreign aggressions, the Qing Dynasty fell a decade later. (Inter Press Service)

Front | China | Southeast Asia | Japan | Koreas | India/Pakistan | Central Asia/Russia | Oceania Business Briefs | Global Economy | Asian Crisis | Media/IT | Editorials | Letters | Search/Archive Cheap Vacation Packages to Philadelphia Pennsylvania

back to the top ©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.

China Chinese Sex News | Asian Sex Gazette