Clip Of Biden Boasting He Proposed NATO’s 78-Day Airstrikes On Belgrade Goes Viral In China

Both Russian and Chinese media and state officials have in the last days been widely circulating a resurfaced video from 1999 wherein then senator Joe Biden bragged about being the first US official to propose bombing Belgrade and destroying the city’s infrastructure.

State media in Russia wrote this week while featuring the footage: “The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, reposted the footage on his social media account, reminding the current US President of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia that is estimated to have killed about 2,500 people, including 89 children.” Russian officials used the clip to blast Biden over his latest description of Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal” and “thug” due to the invasion of Ukraine. It’s also getting wide circulation on Chinese social media.

“I was the one who suggested the bombing of Belgrade. I was who suggested to send American pilots and blow up all the bridges over the Danube”..
Joe Biden, 1999 pic.twitter.com/NrkvmTqN33

— Geo_monitor (@colonelhomsi) March 16, 2022

“I suggested bombing of Belgrade. I suggested that American pilots go there and destroy all bridges on the Drina,” Biden had said at the time.

The 78 days of air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombs kept falling even on Serbia’s Easter – called Pascha – which is the holiest day of the Orthodox Christian year.

“I was suggesting very specific action,” Biden said while seeming to praise his own ‘muscular’ proposals which helped lead to the NATO war against the Serbs.

China’s mission to the EU also called out prior US action over what was Yugoslavia, condemning the outrageous May NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy – which killed and injured multiple Chinese nationals and journalists.

China to NATO: “[W]e will never forget who had bombed our embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. We need no lecture on justice from the abuser of international law…”

Wow.https://t.co/bMYHiEAPDo pic.twitter.com/FxK5e9GA1j

— Nina 🐙 Byzantina (@NinaByzantina) March 18, 2022

According to a summary of the incident in The National Review, “Despite the seemingly extensive target vetting, on May 7 the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was struck by five Joint Directed Attack Munition satellite-guided bombs, delivered by U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers. Three Chinese journalists—Shao Yunhuan of Xinhua, and Xu Xinghu and his wife Zhu Ying of the Guangming Daily—were killed in the attack. Twenty other Chinese nationals were injured, five seriously.”

On Thursday China’s foreign ministry said in a statement “we will never forget” – and related it to Washington’s outrage over ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine:

The Chinese diplomatic mission in the European Union said on Thursday that Chinese people could fully relate to the suffering of other countries because “we will never forget who bombed our embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia”.

“We need no lecture on justice from the abuser of international law,” it said. “As a Cold War remnant and the world’s largest military alliance, Nato continues to expand its geographical scope and range of operations. What kind of role has it played in world peace and stability? Nato needs to have good reflection.”

Destroyed Chinese embassy in Belgrade, 1999

While the US downplayed it as an “accidental targeting” incident, evidence later emerged that it was likely done deliberately amid accusations that Yugoslav army communications were being transmitted from the embassy.

Biden had actually gone on to boast about his role in the NATO attack on Belgrade in multiple different venues…

In the above archived clip, for example, he said in a fiery speech, “I will continue with every fiber in my being to keep America involved with troops that can shoot and kill….”

“I believe it is absolutely essential for American troops to be on the ground with loaded rifles and drawn bayonets.”