當地時間3月15日，塞爾維亞總統武契奇發表電視講話，宣佈塞爾維亞當即進入緊急狀態。

說到塞爾維亞，很多人可能不熟悉。但是提到1999年北約轟炸中國駐南斯拉夫大使館事件（United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade），你們一定不會忘記。

1999年5月8日凌晨，北約的美國B-2轟炸機發射使用三枚精確制導炸彈或聯合直接攻擊彈藥擊中了位於塞爾維亞首都貝爾格萊德的中華人民共和國駐南斯拉夫聯盟大使館。

在這場轟炸中，三名中國記者當場死亡，數十人受傷，大使館建築嚴重損毀。

犧牲的三人分別是：48歲的新華社記者邵雲環、31歲的光明日報記者許杏虎、和他28歲的妻子朱穎。

而塞爾維亞就是前南斯拉夫的中心主體國。南斯拉夫解體後，塞爾維亞成為獨立國家。

除卻這段共同的記憶，這個歷經苦難並且仍在忍受苦難的國家，還是中國在中東歐地區首個建立全面戰略伙伴關係的國家，也是首個對華實質性全面免籤的歐洲國家。

今天，在貝爾格萊德市政府的大使館舊址處，立起了一塊黑色的紀念碑，用塞爾維亞文和中文寫著：

“謹此感謝中華人民共和國在塞爾維亞共和國人民最困難的時刻給予的支持和友誼，並謹此緬懷罹難烈士。”

2019年，BBC發佈了一篇追溯這場轟炸的文章，講述了20年後的前使館舊址現狀：

On a sunny day in late April, more than a dozen fresh bouquets were stacked up neatly against the memorial stone, but Shen Hong still felt compelled to re-arrange them. He comes to the site of the embassy bombing regularly, to remember his friends that died. But these days, it's rare that he is alone.

這是4月下旬的一個晴朗的日子，轟炸事件紀念碑前放了十幾束鮮花。沈紅不由自主地要去重新整理這些花束。他常常到被炸使館舊址來憑弔他死去的朋友們

Busloads of Chinese tourists arrive every day to gaze at the memorial and the statue of the Chinese sage and philosopher Confucius that now stands nearby.

他並不孤單。每天都有一車車的中國遊客來到此地，看這塊紀念碑，還有附近的孔子塑像。

A young Chinese couple, Zhang and He, were in Belgrade for their honeymoon and decided to visit the memorial. They are around the same age that Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying were when they were killed in 1999. "Three of our countrymen died here. We knew about this since we were kids and we came to see it," said He.

一對來貝爾格萊德度蜜月的年輕中國夫婦，小張和小何，也來此地憑弔。他們與許杏虎和朱穎死去時的年齡差不多大。“三位我們的同胞在這裡死去，我們小時候就知道這事，所以現在要來看看，”小何說。

Yang, a guide who was leading some 30 middle-aged Chinese tourists on a two-week bus tour through the Balkans, said the embassy site was a mandatory stop. "Our embassy was destroyed by Americans. Every Chinese knows this."

一位姓楊的導遊帶著三十幾名中年中國遊客，乘巴士在巴爾幹地區進行為期兩週的觀光。他說，使館舊址是必來的一站。“我們的使館被美國人炸燬了，所有中國人都知道。”

In 1999, China was not the economic, technological and military giant it is now. It was focused on getting wealthy and had a much less visible foreign policy. But 20 years later the country knows it sits at the top table with America and its ambitions around the world reflect that.

1999年時，中國還沒有成為一個經濟、技術和軍事上的超級大國。當時，中國一心致富，其外交政策遠遠沒有今天這樣令人矚目。但20年後，中國意識到自己已經和美國一樣成為世界頂級強國，開始在全球範圍內展現其野心。

The Belgrade embassy site is being turned into a Chinese cultural centre that will be one of the biggest in Europe. The symbolism is hard to miss: a site of national humiliation and tragedy at the hands of the West re-born as a shiny edifice to China's glorious history.

被炸使館的舊址被重新開發，將成為歐洲最大的中國文化中心之一。其象徵意義不言自明：一塊在西方霸權下經歷屈辱和悲劇的土地浴火重生，成為展現中國燦爛歷史的閃亮殿堂。