Following opposition by Nato ambassadors, a fresh Chinese proposal urged the Security Council to "strongly deplore" the attack.

It also dropped calls for an official UN investigation of the bombing, and for those responsible to be punished.

Mark Devenport at the United Nations: "Now China has shifted its position"

A formal Security Council statement requires consensus among all 15 members.

Nato continued its air campaign for a 50th night, describing Tuesday's activity as the busiest day so far.

Nato said its planes attacked bridges and airfields in Serbia, while in Kosovo, tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed.

Serbian media reported strikes in suburbs of Belgrade and the death of a young girl after a Nato strike on a village in southern Serbia.

(Click here to see a map of last night's Nato strikes)

In a further sign of easing tension in China, Beijing has been showing signs that it might be prepared to join a proposed UN force in the province, Russia's special Balkan envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin, has said.

Mr Chernomyrdin is greeted by Chinese premier Zu Rongji

However, China has emphasised that it will not consider any peace plan for Kosovo until the Nato bombing stops.

Speaking on his return to Moscow from talks in Beijing, Mr Chernomyrdin said he had new proposals to make to the United States to solve the Kosovo crisis.

But Russian President Boris Yeltsin said shortly after sacking his Prime Minister, Yevgeny Primakov, on Wednesday that Russia would stop cooperating on Kosovo unless Nato took greater account of its views.

The moves came as the remains of the three people killed in the embassy attack were returned to China.

The BBC's Jill McGivering: "A mood a national mourning in China"

A special plane carrying the victims' ashes, along with more than 20 injured and China's special investigation team was met at Beijing Airport by a guard of honour and the Chinese vice-president, Hu Jintao.

The first Nato leader to visit China since the embassy bombing - German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder - has arrived in Beijing, amid signs that anger on the streets is beginning to die down.

Gerhard Schröder heads for China

Protests have been fading away, and Nato and American apologies have been reported in the official press. The US Ambassador, James Sasser, has been able to leave the embassy compound for the first time since the bombing.

Mr Schröder's visit to China has been cut back from four days to 16 hours because of the embassy attack.

He told a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday he thought it was already a success that his visit to China could take place in the circumstances.

The BBC's Stephen Gibbs: "No signs of a deal until Nato stop bombing"

He added that the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was "inexcusable". He said he would apologise to Beijing again over the incident and was seeking to bring China into a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Correspondents say the visit is being seen as a key test of how China's leaders now intend to deal with Nato countries.

Tension over apology

Following four days of protests in China over the attack, the US has urged Beijing to accept its apologies.

Paul reynolds in Washington: "Cohen showed the first sign of irritation"

US Defence Secretary William Cohen told a Senate committee that China should find ways of minimising tensions.

He gave an implicit warning that, otherwise, Chinese commercial interests might be affected, with America possibly suspending transfers of technology.

BBC Washington Correspondent Paul Reynolds says the US was showing its first flash of irritation over the reaction in China, where government leaders bitterly condemned the US, and crowds attacked the British and American embassies.

Cash shortage

In a separate development, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said it is facing a drastic shortage of money for relief efforts among Kosovo-Albanian refugees.

Commissioner Sadako Ogata has appealed to European Union countries to bear a greater part of the financial burden of what she called a European tragedy.

A recent appeal for $146m raised less than half this amount and all of it has been spent.

Correspondents say if the agency does not immediately get more money, it will no longer be able to buy such basics for the Kosovo refugees as tents, blankets and soap.

'Serbs reinforcing in Kosovo'

The British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, says Nato has seen no evidence at all that the Yugoslav army has started the partial withdrawal from Kosovo it announced on Monday.

Mr Cook told a briefing in London that far from withdrawing, Yugoslav troops were continuing to construct and reinforce new positions.

The Nato spokesman in Brussels, Jamie Shea, said the Serbs seemed to be trying harder than ever to capture strongholds of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Meanwhile, Nato has been continuing its bombing raids across a wide area of Yugoslavia.

• US used wrong map for embassy attack
• China seeks to restore calm
• 'KLA still fighting fit'
• Refugee agency's cash crisis
• Nato's bombing blunders

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