Nato bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade because it was sending signals to the Yugoslav army, a British newspaper said yesterday.
The Observer said the embassy was originally on a list of prohibited targets but was removed after Nato forces discovered it was operating as a rebroadcasting station for the Yugoslav army.
With President Jiang Zemin arriving in Britain today, the report could rekindle tensions in mainland ties with the West.
Quoting United States and European military sources, the Observer said the signals being transmitted from the embassy gave it an electronic profile which made it a valid target.
The signals had previously been broadcast from President Slobodan Milosevic's house, but when this was bombed on April 23, the signals disappeared for 24 hours, the newspaper said. When they reappeared, they were coming from the embassy.
The newspaper said it had confirmed the report with three Nato officers - a flight controller operating in Naples, an intelligence officer monitoring Yugoslav radio traffic from Macedonia and a senior headquarters officer in Brussels.
The embassy was hit by three missiles launched from a US bomber on the night of May 7, resulting in the death of three Chinese citizens and wrecking Sino-US relations.
