China Steps Up Security at US Embassy; Ordinary Citizens Say We Brought Attack On Ourselves

South China Morning Post ^ | Wednesday, September 12, 2001 | REUTERS in Beijing

[hedgetrimmer]

China increased security around US diplomatic buildings on Wednesday as state-run media and ordinary Chinese reeled with shock at the aircraft attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. At least one Chinese national was injured in the terror attacks against the World Trade Centre in New York and the fate of roughly 30 others was unknown on Wednesday morning, China's Foreign Trade Ministry said. China had 14 companies with offices in the building at the heart of the global financial centre which was hit by two aircraft on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site. Chinese paramilitary police blocked off the road past the US embassy in Beijing to all but American embassy cars and personnel and doubled the number of guards to about 30, said one police lieutenant. ''We are here to protect the safety of embassy personnel and US citizens,'' said the lieutenant, who declined to be indentified. ''China is utterly opposed to terrorist activities.'' Chinese newspapers delayed their morning issues by at least an hour to change their front pages, journalists said. Most carried front-page pictures of the World Trade Centre billowing smoke into the sky over Manhattan. ''Terrorists Attack the United States!'' screamed the main headline in the popular Beijing Youth Daily, one of the first to hit the streets. Ordinary Chinese scrambled for more information, with many trying to access foreign news web sites, which are mostly blocked in China. Many condemned the attacks, first reported on the main state channel China Central Television around midnight on Tuesday, three hours after the event. ''I think no matter what, if you play with people's lives, it is too tragic,'' said Chen Xiao, who works for a Beijing publishing firm, as she bought a morning newspaper. ''It doesn't matter who did it or what they were upset about, but taking that many innocent lives is a price that's barbaric.'' But some said the United States had brought the attacks on itself. Anti-US sentiment has been riding high in China since the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999, which killed three Chinese journalists, and this year's April 1 collision between a US spy plane and Chinese fighter, whose pilot died. ''My initial reaction is they deserve it because the US is just bad,'' said a middle-aged taxi driver in Shanghai who declined to be identified. ''Their economy is too developed, so it's bound to arouse the envy and hatred of others.'' Said a traffic warden in Beijing, who gave her last name as Wu: ''Some things America has done are a little bit extreme. Extreme for any country. We read the papers every day...like hitting our aeroplane.'' ''America has attacked other countries. It bombed the Chinese embassy. China would not bomb any country and is peaceful with every country.'' China's normally insulated stocks markets dropped sharply at the open on Wednesday, with Shanghai B shares down more than six per cent. Chinese investors, who routinely ignore everything from US Fed rate cuts to tumbling Asian bourses, would be unable to shrug off the attacks, brokers and analysts said. The official Xinhua news agency said all four flights scheduled from China to the United States on Wednesday had been cancelled. Air China flight CA985 to San Francisco and China Eastern flight MU583 to Los Angeles were both diverted to Vancouver on Tuesday night and China Eastern cargo flight MU5787 was diverted to an American military airport in Anchorage, Alaska, Xinhua said.

[DoughtyOne]

Sure, China is the model for democracy. That's why they have something between 400 and 600 missiles aimed at Taiwan.

This was about what I expected from China. Once again I think this the minority of China's people who feel this way. When given the opportunity to build a statue, did the Chinese build a statue of Mao or Lady Liberty?

[general_re]

"America has attacked other countries. It bombed the Chinese embassy. China would not bomb any country and is peaceful with every country."

Uh-huh. Tell it to the Taiwanese. Or, hell, tell it to the Vietnamese - how many border clashes did they have with China in the late '70's and early '80's?

I think you're right, and that most probably, only "approved" opinions are cleared for international consumption.

[Libertina]

Their economy is too developed, so it's bound to arouse the envy and hatred of others.'' Said a traffic warden in Beijing, who gave her last name as Wu: ''Some things America has done are a little bit extreme. Extreme for any country. We read the papers every day...like hitting our aeroplane

The Communists ARE NOT our friends. And the common people have been brainwashed. Don't look to them for help. I heard one lady at work today saying how China was so great to support us. I asked her, "Is this the same China that knocked our plane out of the sky, held our people hostages, then cut it into little peices and sent it back on 4th of July?" She replied, "But they are on our side in this."

It is from statments such as these that I feel the greatest loss of hope.

[boycott]

They couldn't sell there goods in the US if they didn't use US developed technology to process those goods. How come we don't charge them a surcharge for the technology of ours to dump it back in this country.

[rebelsoldier]

China isn't on our side in anything. They are on their own side in everything; the slinking, lying, thieving, ungrateful little bastards. China is flirting with nuclear annihilation every time they run their stupid mouths pissing down our back and selling weapons to rogue nations and terrorist factions. Were I President, China's population problem would already have been solved, though not in the way they would have expected.

[Blue Team]

China regrets this incident only because it has unified the United States. They would much rather see us divided. I think China supported the Taliban with the notion that they were a thorn in our side, causing small to medium sized attacks on a seemingly never ending basis that would demoralize us and weaken our resolve.
I don't think they bargained on a massive attack that would stir up nationalism in America (after all, that's a virtue only the Chinese posess, right?). Their policy of blindly supporting any and all groups or nations that have a grudge against the U.S. is one that is bound to backfire at least some of the time. This is one of those times.

[L`enn]

Our company has a joint venture in Hangzhou, and the managing director of the operation e-mailed our company with his sincere outrage and condolences and conveyed that he has received several comments from his countrymen saying the same. We have received several letters from our customers stating the same, even from nations such as Syria and Bangladesh.

[RightWhale]

China would not bomb any country and is peaceful with every country.

uhhhh. . . Nevermind.

[The_Expatriate]

Their policy of blindly supporting any and all groups or nations that have a grudge against the U.S. is one that is bound to backfire at least some of the time. This is one of those times.

The US policy of blindly supporting any and all groups/nations that have a grudge useful to the US is one that is bound to backfire at least some of the time. This is one of those times.

[Blue Team]

The U.S. is not blindly supporting terrorist groups and proliferating weapons of mass destruction to fanatics who are quite likely to use them. This has been China's approach and it has and will continue to backfire, either by rallying the U.S. or by direct attack at some point from the unstable groups it helped build up.

[Texas_Jarhead]

Off Topic - I posted a request for information on the UN's response to the attacks, got one response, and then the dang thing was deleted. It's ridiculous.

PS - Has there been a condemnation of the attacks by the UN or any statements made at all?