The May 7 NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy located in war-torn Belgrade prompted worldwide protests toward the United States’ role in the incident, and Iowa State is no exception.

About 50 people bearing signs demonstrated on campus May 11, just days after ISU’s spring semester came to a close.

U.S. officials are citing a CIA error as the cause of the bombing, saying NATO actually was targeting a Yugoslav government supply office. Some Chinese students at the university are not so convinced.

Junyan Wang, graduate student in statistics at ISU and a native of Sichan, China, said he wants a complete investigation into the bombing.

“Part of me, I don’t buy that,” said Wang of the American explanation for the incident, which killed several people and injured others.

However, he said it is “hard to tell” exactly what happened May 7.

“Some people [may] think they will benefit from this for some political reasons,” he said.

Ru Gao, senior in pre-business and a native of Tianjin, China, has been in the United States for one year. He also is skeptical about America’s role in the bombing.

“I was angry and don’t understand why it happened,” he said. “I don’t think most [Chinese] people believe the explanation.”

Wang, who has been in the United States for almost four years, said he was dismayed when he first heard of the bombing.

“Shock — I was shocked by this; I cannot believe it,” he said. “I think that most of the [Chinese] people, they just was shocked at very first, and then they feel rage. We never thought this could happen.”

“Shock” also was the term employed by ISU student Yun Liu, graduate student in agricultural economics from Beijing. He said he was angry when he heard the news, but he does believe the occurrence was an accident.

“I think it was a mistake; I don’t blame anyone,” he said. “It was an accident, but the U.S. government must be [held] responsible for that.”

Liu, who has been in the states for three years, is not supportive of America’s foreign policy. He said he disliked the U.S. government even before it got involved in the Kosovo conflict.

“I don’t like the government of the USA, not because of this incident,” he said. “[The government] is kind of like a policeman of this world.”

Wang attended last week’s rally. He said he senses the ISU Chinese community’s attitude as one that definitely is grieving.

“I think that we feel kind of sad about what happened,” he said. “We feel kind of unsure about what will happen next.”

However, Wang said he is hopeful that the relations between the United States and China, which have been strained for decades, can begin to repair themselves.

“This kind of a thing can be probably resolved,” he said, noting if whoever is responsible for the bombing is punished, it is “very possible that a relationship [between the two countries] still can be better, better than right now.”

Liu also said although the ISU Chinese community has been deeply hurt by the embassy bombing, time will heal the wounds.

“We will both benefit from a good relationship,” he said. “[However], it’s going to be long [time].”