The issue raised for China at the time of the Gulf Conflict in 1990-1991 arose again in the Kosovo crisis. In 1998–1999, Slobodan Milosevic started an atrocious nationwide project of ethnic cleansing against the majority Kosovo Albanians and the insurgents who wanted to oppose the continuous suppression carried out in the country. China saw US initiative of moving forces into the region to stop Serbian aggression as an attempt to consolidate its hegemonic influence. But China was also concerned about how this move can possibly set a precedent that might be invoked later as a justification for the international community to interfere into matters of strategic importance to China such as Taiwan and Tibet. With those assessments in mind, along with Russia portraying the situation in Kosovo as being exclusively under the Yugoslavian government's national authority, the proposed UNSC resolution to use military force was vetoed. Unable to gain legitimacy for its conduct under UN authorization, the US turned to NATO to seek public support for intervention in Kosovo. The bombing campaign under NATO auspices, which began on 24 March 1999, commenced airstrikes against Serbian military targets in Yugoslavia. A specific crisis in Sino-US relations during this campaign arose after the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on 7 May 1999 by US warplanes.