Beijing | Wednesday
PEOPLE on the streets of Chinese cities reacted with shock on Wednesday to the terror attacks which struck New York and Washington, but some argued the US was reaping the returns of its own foreign policies.
Newspaper stands across Beijing and elsewhere were stripped bare of papers by early morning as passers-by snapped up special editions carrying huge colour photographs of New York’s devastated World Trade Centre.
China seemed likely to have been directly affected by the tragedy, with 30 of its nationals unaccounted for in the World Trade Centre, according to the foreign trade ministry.
There were around 14 Chinese companies based in the twin towers of the now-levelled New York landmark, it said, adding that so far only one injury to a Chinese person confirmed.
However there were no visible signs of the terrible events the previous day except beefed-up security outside US diplomatic buildings.
All flights to the US from China were also cancelled indefinitely, said a source with Civil Aviation Administration.
Many passers-by on city streets expressed deep sympathy for the thousands feared killed and for their families, echoing a personal message sent on Tuesday night by President Jiang Zemin to American counterpart George W Bush.
”I feel that my heart is breaking when I see it on the television,” said Gong Liming, a 47-year-old cleaner in Shanghai.
”To think of all those parents without children, and children without parents.”
Lin Xinshu (58) a doctor of Chinese herbal medicine from Fuzhou city in the southern province of Fujiang, said the attack had ”saddened” him but also cautioned the US against hasty reaction.
”I hope President Bush can handle this with restraint and wisdom. That he wants to seek revenge is understandable, but retaliation should be correct and direct and cannot lead to the suffering of other innocent people,” he said.
Others expressed the opinion that however tragic the attacks, Washington was at least partly to blame for making enemies through aggressive foreign policies.
”I’m totally shocked, I don’t know what to think. America is going to have to change if they want to stop this thing from happening again,” a Beijing housewife named Han said.
”Too many people around the world hate them and this shows how far they will go to commit terrorist attacks,” she said.
”Americans are too arrogant, they think they are the global police. So this is what they get,” said another housewife, Zhang Lili.
Particularly strident comment filled the popular topical chatrooms of the Sina.com Internet portal, often the forum for more radical opinions –although one which the authorities do not hesitate to shut down if comments are felt to contravene official policy too strongly.
Some contributors referred to events which sparked anti-US feeling such as the 1999 NATO bombing of Beijing’s embassy in Belgrade and the recent collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet.
”The western devils should also suffer … they bombed our embassy,” said one. ”So I have no sympathy for them and slept well last night.”
Shares on Shanghai’s stock exchange dipped on Wednesday, although analysts said the overall effect on the generally insular market was likely to be minimal.
However Bob Broadfoot, managing director of the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Group, said the ”broader picture” could be different.
”How many of the companies in the World Trade Centre had CEOs in the building who were involved in deals in China?” he said. ”These are the issues we have to look at.” – Sapa-AFP