More than a month after the bombing of the embassy in Belgrade, Beijing's fury is apparently still undiminished. Profound and repeated apologies by the US, including the telephone call from President Bill Clinton to President Jiang Zemin, have failed to get diplomatic communications back on track.
The mainland Government's response was understandable in the emotion of the moment; after all, staff members tragically lost their lives. But by refusing to help defuse the ongoing row, Beijing now risks deepening the harm to Sino-US relations.
No doubt the spying row and repercussions from the Cox report have helped to keep tensions on the boil, but it is disheartening to know the SAR is still a casualty of the discord, more than six weeks after the tragedy.
Banning US warships may have driven home the extent of China's anger, even if it was taken at the cost of HK$385 million in lost revenue at a time when the economy is still struggling to revive. But the decision to refuse US military aircraft permission to land here will inconvenience none but the country concerned, and then only mildly. However, if it is applied to military planes bringing in US delegations during the Washington midsummer break, it will appear to be rather a petty act, and will certainly not enhance Hong Kong's image.
What an irony it would be if Christopher Cox, author of the controversial report, was refused permission to land in a USAF aircraft, after he accepted Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan Fang On-sang's invitation to come and witness the mechanisms to prevent the export of sensitive technology across the border.
It is, of course, the mainland's business to decide how long it will continue to wreak revenge, but the point has been made very forcefully with the warship ban, and that should suffice. To implicate the SAR in any further repercussions can only hurt its claims to autonomy.