China increased security around US diplomatic buildings on Wednesday as state-run media and ordinary Chinese reeled with shock at the aircraft attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
At least one Chinese national was injured in the terror attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the fate of roughly 30 others was unknown on Wednesday morning, China's Foreign Trade Ministry said.
China had 14 companies with offices in the building at the heart of the global financial centre which was hit by two aircraft on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site.
Chinese police blocked off the road past the US embassy in Beijing to all but American embassy cars and personnel and doubled the number of guards to about 30, a police lieutenant told Reuters.
"We are here to protect the safety of embassy personnel and US citizens," said the lieutenant, who declined to be indentified. "China is utterly opposed to terrorist activities."
Chinese newspapers delayed their morning issues by at least an hour to change their front pages, journalists said.
Most carried front-page pictures of the World Trade Center billowing smoke into the sky over Manhattan.
"Terrorists Attack the United States!" screamed the main headline in the popular Beijing Youth Daily, one of the first to hit the streets.
SCRAMBLING FOR INFORMATION
Ordinary Chinese scrambled for more information, with many trying to access foreign news web sites.
Many condemned the attacks, first reported on the main state channel China Central Television around midnight on Tuesday, three hours after the event.
"I think no matter what, if you play with people's lives, it is too tragic," said Chen Xiao, who works for a Beijing publishing firm, as she bought a morning newspaper.
"It doesn't matter who did it or what they were upset about, but taking that many innocent lives is a price that's barbaric."
Feng Chang-lin, 63, owner of a downtown hardware store in Shanghai, said the world would never be the same again.
"This is just a cowardly act by terrorists," he said. "No matter what problems you might have with another country, you should never resort to such tactics."
STOCKS DROP
China's stocks markets dropped sharply at the open on Wednesday, with Shanghai B shares down more than six percent.
Chinese investors, who routinely ignore everything from US Fed rate cuts to tumbling Asian bourses, would be unable to shrug off the attacks, brokers and analysts said.
All four flights scheduled from China to the United States on Wednesday had been cancelled.
Air China flight CA985 to San Francisco and China Eastern flight MU583 to Los Angeles were both diverted to Vancouver on Tuesday night and China Eastern cargo flight MU5787 was diverted to an American military airport in Anchorage, Alaska.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin sent a message of sympathy to US President George W. Bush at Tuesday's midnight.
Jiang also expressed condolences to the family members of the victims of the attacks and "grave concern" for the safety of tens of thousands of Chinese in the United States.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said in a statement the Chinese people were "deeply shocked" by the attacks.
"The Chinese government has consistently condemned and opposed all manner of terrorist violence," Zhu said.
(People's Daily 09/12/2001)
