ABSTRACT
As Beijing makes abundantly clear, China is about to enter the twenty-first century more secure from major external military threats than at any time since the early nineteenth century. Rapprochement with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the late 1980s and the Soviet Union's ultimate disintegration in 1991 terminated the threat that had been the focus of Beijing's military preparations from the late 1960s on. Moreover, the United States (US) Congress passed a resolution calling on the International Olympic Committee to deny Beijing's bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games. Beijing saw these acts as flagrant examples of "hegemonism and power politics." Modernization programs enhancing China's conventional general purpose forces are paralleled by improvements in strategic and short-range ballistic missiles. Upgrading the strategic forces is considered essential in order to provide a survivable, quicker-reacting deterrent in an era when the US and Russia continue to deploy thousands of strategic weapons and when ballistic missile defense is on the horizon.
