650 { China’s Quest
was weak, that it could do nothing, really, in response to even such an egre-
gious insult to China’s honor. The Americans hated China and simply wanted
to humiliate it. China’s media fanned popular anger: the Chinese people can-
not be humiliated. China will not be bullied. This was an act of new gunboat
diplomacy, flagrant aggression, and a bloody atrocity. Chinese were informed
by their media that the American action was a deliberate, intentional act of
aggression against China. Nor did China’s media inform the public about the
ethnic cleansing underway in Kosovo. American bombing of Kosovo seemed
like unreasonable aggression against a harmless and weak country. Now that
aggression was being directed against China.
The American side moved quickly to apologize for the accidental tragedy.
Ambassador James Sasser and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright quickly
delivered formal apologies. President Clinton reiterated this during a stop-
over at an Oklahoma airport—although his seemingly casual matter of
speaking on that occasion struck many Chinese as cavalier and disrespectful
when videos of those comments were conveyed to them by China’s media.
Clinton attempted to reach Jiang by telephone to convey US apologies. The
call was not accepted. A letter by Clinton met the same initial response. These
multiple US efforts to apologize and make amends were not reported to the
Chinese people by government officials or China’s media. China’s leaders ap-
parently decided to let public anger vent for several days. As State Department
official Stanley Roth would later testify before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee:
The state-run media delayed by several crucial days publishing reports
of U.S. official apologies and explanations. There was an inexplicable
delay in President Jiang’s willingness to accept the phone call from
President Clinton ... China failed for several days to carry out its obliga-
tions to provide for the security of US diplomatic personnel.^23
While PRC media kept China’s people ignorant of US efforts to apologize
for the tragic blunder, CCP organs mobilized buses to ferry people to and
from US diplomatic facilities for mass demonstrations reminiscent of the
Mao era. The US embassy in Beijing and all four US consulates in China were
besieged for hours or days by large, angry mobs. In scenes reminiscent of
the Cultural Revolution, crowds surrounded diplomatic buildings, chanted
slogans in response to leaders, and pelted buildings with rocks and paint.
Considerable damage was done to the buildings. Police forces that deployed
to the scene of the demonstrations seemed unconcerned with damage done
to diplomatic property and did little if anything to restrain the rage of the
crowds. On at least one occasion, police forces were inadequate to protect
the facilities from the enraged mob. In Chengdu, Sichuan, a mob stormed
and burned the US consular residence, with the US consul and family flee-
ing for their lives. Mobs besieged US consulates in Shanghai, Shenyang, and