In March of 1999, the "North Atlantic Treaty Organisation"(NATO) Allied Forces were in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia carrying out a peacekeeping mission.

U.S. intelligence officers began considering the Federal Directory of Supplies and Procurement (FDSP) of Yugoslavia as a potential target of the NATO Allied Forces in early March. They referred to three out-dated maps (both commercial and government maps)which did not include the new location of the China Embassy. Instead, all their maps reflected the China Embassy in its pre-1996 location in Belgrade. On top of this, their U.S. databases did not highlight the mistaken location of the Embassy despite numerous visits to it by U.S. officials in recent years. These two factors and some others culminated to the errant aerial bombing of the China Embassy. The result: 3 Chinese correspondents dead, more than 20 Chinese diplomats injured and the Embassy...