Wei and He said they attended the huge demonstrations, but denied the protests only occured because the government allowed them to. Other students said the granting of permanent normal trade relationsto China by the US Congress in a vote later this month, would go a long way towards showing that the United States was not trying to contain China, but was willing to work with China. With China's probable entry into the World Trade Organisation, most students looked forward to better ties with the West and many shied away from discussing politics. Study in the US is still the first choice. The US Central Intelligence Agency took the blame for the NATO strike by saying out-dated maps resulted in laser guided bombs hitting the Chinese embassy instead of a nearby Yugoslav military depot.
China still insists the attack was deliberate.