Xi visits Serbia on 25th anniversary of Nato’s bombing of Chinese embassy

Workers hang on ropes to install a giant Chinese national flag on a skyscraper that is a symbolic gateway leading into the city from the airport, in Belgrade, Serbia (Darko Vojinovic/AP)

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to European ally Serbia on Tuesday falls on a symbolic date: the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during Nato’s air war over Kosovo.

US jets dropped five bombs on the Chinese Embassy compound in the Serbian capital on May 7 1999, setting it ablaze and killing three Chinese nationals.