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BEIJING (AFP) - NATO wants to finally end tensions arising from its deadly 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and establish ties with China, a general with the alliance said in comments published here Thursday.

NATO Military Commission chairman General Ray Henault said the organisation was ready and willing to set up direct "military-to-military" relations with China, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

"NATO is open to develop relations with China whenever there is (the) opportunity," Henault said, according to Xinhua, following an exclusive interview with him on the USS Roosevelt missile destroyer in Italy.

Xinhua said Henault had referred in the interview to NATO's bombing of China's embassy in Kosovo eight years ago, which killed three Chinese journalists.

The incident, which NATO insisted was an accident, sent relations between the two sides plummeting to their lowest point. China initially recalled its ambassador from Washington over the strike.

The US-led forces, which were trying to end Serbian violence against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, said the strike occurred because of an outdated map provided by the CIA.

The United States and NATO apologised for the incident.

"NATO wants to shake off the embassy-bombing shadow and is open to develop relations with China," Xinhua cited Henault as saying.