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U.S. Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt opened an exhibit of September 11 photos at China's National Library in Beijing yesterday, saying that China's sympathy and help in the war on terror have brought the two countries closer together.
September 11 "demonstrated to Americans that we have real enemies, and China is not among them," Randt told an audience of diplomats and Chinese officials.
Randt said President Jiang Zemin's expressions of sympathy after the attacks on New York and Washington left a "deep impression" on Americans.
At least three Chinese nationals were killed - one in the World Trade Center and two on a hijacked jetliner.
"Our two governments' mutual efforts to combat terrorism augurs well for our future relations," Randt said.
China has cooperated with Washington in the United Nations, and U.S. officials say Beijing has shared intelligence data.
The display of about three-dozen photos, titled "After September 11: Images from Ground Zero," has been shown in Europe and Australia. It will be shown in Beijing for one week before moving to Shanghai.
The photos show rescue and cleanup efforts around the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and in the following days.
In Beijing, the exhibit is being shown in the three-story-high entrance hall of the library, where thousands of people pass through each day.
It includes a video display showing rescue efforts and a speech by then-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, although there is no Chinese translation available.
After the exhibit opened to the public yesterday, several hundred people passed through in the first hour.
"It was such a massive event, it really caused everyone so much heartache, not just Americans but the whole world," said a retired high school teacher in the city.
Gao Jian, a former reporter in New York for Xinhua news agency who is now a researcher at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said the attacks elicited sympathy entirely removed from "political contradictions between the two countries."
"The Chinese people, the American people, and all the people of the world again express condolences to the victims and their families and vigorously condemn all terrorist activities against civilized society," said yesterday's edition of People's Daily.
( eastday.com September 12, 2002)
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