Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) – China compared the United States to Nazi Germany Tuesday and said NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia reflected Washington’s ambition to become “Lord of the Earth.”

“If you ask which country wants to become ‘the Lord of the Earth’ as the then Nazi Germany had tried to, there is only one answer,” said a commentary in the People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party.

“It is the hegemonism-pursuing United States.” In likening the United States to Nazi Germany, the newspaper cited its massive defense budget, the bombing of Yugoslavia without U.N. sanction and the killing of civilians during the air campaign in Yugoslavia.

NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia “has let more and more people see more clearly the ferocious appearance of the U.S. hegemonism and its ambition to dominate the world,” it said.

China’s embassy was bombed by NATO planes during the U.S.-led alliance’s air campaign against Yugoslav forces. The United States called the deadly bombing a mistake and apologized to China, but an enraged Beijing has rejected this explanation.

Beijing consistently opposed NATO’s air campaign, fearing it could set a precedent for “interference” in Chinese problems such as Taiwan and Tibet. China’s state-run media portrayed Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic as a hero fighting NATO aggression.

The People’s Daily said NATO’s intervention was aimed at expanding its influence eastward and paving the way for the United States to “control the entire Europe.”

China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it was unconvinced by reports of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, where many ethnic Albanians are said to have been massacred at the hands of Serbs.

“We must conduct an earnest and serious investigation before making any judgements,” ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters in Beijing.

Evidence of mass killings of ethnic Albanians has begun to surface since Yugoslav forces agreed this month to quit the southern province.

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