It was partly the notion that Taiwan would cower when threatened with missiles that triggered the military's decision to fire several rockets over Taiwanese territory in 1996, bringing the United States and China closer to conflict than at any time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. It was China's perception as well that the United States would slow weapons sales to Taiwan that led Beijing to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to consider joining the Missile Technology Control Regime. The military and hard-line factions appear to have succeeded in pushing the government to consider a new, more aggressive foreign policy, which they call China's New Security Concept. Chinese media also reported after the attack on the Belgrade embassy that China was speeding up its program to launch a man into space. The Chinese press on May 26 quoted officials as saying the government was hoping for a manned space flight by Oct. 1, the 50th anniversary of the founding of Communist China.
Western experts are doubtful.
Over the last few months, China has also forged its closest ties with Russia since the two then-Communist giants split over ideological issues in the early 1960s. Finally, a Chinese source said that some military factions are debating the resumption of sales of weapons of mass destruction. China suspended a nuclear weapons proliferation dialogue with the United States after the embassy bombing. Despite these developments, Western experts stress that China is still a weak military force. It is believed to have only 23 nuclear warheads, compared with thousands in the United States.