[PEN-L:6700] People's Daily Commentary

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

People's Daily: NATO, Serious Threat to World Peace

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's leading newspaper, the People's
Daily, has accused the U.S.-led NATO strikes against the Chinese Embassy
in Belgrade as brutal infringement upon
China's sovereignty and national dignity, and a serious threat to world
peace and security.

In a commentary entitled "Serious Threat to World Peace" to be published
Wednesday, the paper pointed out that the lunatic U.S.- led NATO strikes
against the Chinese Embassy have shocked the whole world and ignited
wide-spread condemnation and indignation among the world people.

Quoting Chinese President Jiang Zemin as saying, "The U.S.-led NATO must
bear full responsibility for the atrocity, or the Chinese people will
not leave the matter at that," the paper pointed out that any
prevarication such as "mistaken bombing" or " accident" can never be
accepted.

Development and peace have become the irresistible trend of the world
since the end of the cold war. As a cold-war-time military organization,
NATO, manipulated by the U.S., did not
disband with the end of the cold war, but kept growing larger to the
contrary of the expectation of the world people, said the paper.

According to its so-called "new strategic concept" made public late
April, NATO has developed from a defensive organization to an offensive
military and political one, which can extend its
military actions to areas beyond the north Atlantic and wage war against
any country without authorization from the United Nations.

Obviously, this is a new strategic concept of hegemonism inflated, and
NATO's military attack against Yugoslavia bypassing the United Nations
is a practice of this concept, said the paper.

The paper added the U.S.-led NATO military strike against Yugoslavia is
a downright gunboat policy. In history, the Western powers ran wild by
relying on advanced cannons and boats.
Today, the U.S.-led NATO uses high-tech weapons to wantonly bomb a small
nation and even wantonly raided the embassy of a permanent member of the
U.N. Security Council in flagrant
defiance of the U.N. Charter and basic principles governing
international relations.

Such new gunboat policy is more fierce and more dangerous, and poses
greater threat to world peace, the paper warned, calling on all the
peace-loving people in the world and responsible
politicians of various countries to be highly vigilant against this
dangerous tendency of U.S.-led NATO.

The paper stressed that major powers bear unshirkable responsibilities
for safeguarding world peace and security. In their telephone
conversation on May 10, President Jiang Zemin and
Russian President Boris Yeltsin agreed that, as Security Council
permanent members and countries with vital influence in the world, China
and Russia bear strong responsibilities for maintaining justice and
defending peace. They noted that China and Russia have cooperated well
on the Kosovo and other important international issues and will continue
to keep in close contact to make their efforts for the maintaining of
world peace and security.

The paper finally urged all the peace-loving countries to work together
to immediately halt the extremely barbaric military actions against
Yugoslavia by the U.S.-led NATO in defense of world
peace.