But Am I the only ony one that Thought of Fifty Cent?
Posted on 07/14/2005 2:39:38 PM PDT by Stellar Dendrite
China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, according to a senior Chinese military official.
“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” Zhu Chenghu, a major general in the People's Liberation Army, said at an official briefing.
Mr Zhu, who is also a professor at China's National Defence University, was speaking at a function for foreign journalists organised, in part, by the Chinese government. He added that China's definition of its territory includes warships and aircraft.
“If the Americans are determined to interfere [then] we will be determined to respond,” Mr Zhu said. “We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds. . . of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.” Mr Zhu is a self-acknowledged “hawk” who has warned previously that China could strike the US with long-range missiles. But his threat to use nuclear weapons in a conflict over Taiwan is the most specific by a senior Chinese official in nearly a decade.
Rick Fisher, a former senior US congressional official and an authority on the Chinese military, said the specific nature of the threat “is a new addition to China's public discourse”.
China's official doctrine has called for no first use of nuclear weapons since its first atomic test in 1964. But Mr Zhu is not the first Chinese official to refer to the possibility of using such weapons first in a conflict over Taiwan.
Chas Freeman, a former US assistant secretary of defence, said in 1999 that a PLA official had told him China could respond in kind to a nuclear strike by the US in the event of a conflict with Taiwan.
“In the end you care more about Los Angeles than you do about Taipei,” Mr Freeman quoted this official as saying. The official is believed to have been Xiong Guangkai, now the PLA's deputy chief of general staff.
The rationale for the new threats is unclear. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not be reached for comment.
Mr Zhu, who has risen from the rank of colonel over the past five years, insisted he was expressing his personal views, and that they did not represent the policy of the Chinese government. Nor was he anticipating war between China and the US.
But he said that, because China did not have the capability to fight a conventional war against the US, the threat to escalate might be the only way to stop a war.
His comments could provide insight into the thinking among some in the PLA amid growing anxiety in Washington about its capabilities. Last month, Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, voiced concern about China's military build-up.
Additional reporting by Edward Alden in Washington
Just like an American to always be in a hurry ;)
Man, I love those Ohio-class boomers.
Call me a Cold War dinosaur, but the fact that we have literally thousands and thousands of nuclear weapons poised to strike lets me sleep well at night.
Yep I agree.
Is this similar to dropping the f-bomb. Probably not. Sorry, wrong thread.
Me too.
North Korea is irritating us also- same playbook.
I did not say over night. Do you know what demand flow manufacturing is?
According to the 2003–2004 issue of the IISS Military Balance, one brigade (eight missiles) of the long-anticipated DF-31 inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) is now deployed, with more presumably to follow in relatively short order . . . While this is not the first road-mobile, solid-fuel missile deployed by China, it is the first one capable of striking the continental United States.
According to the 2003–2004 issue of the IISS Military Balance, one brigade (eight missiles) of the long-anticipated DF-31 inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) is now deployed, with more presumably to follow in relatively short order . . . While this is not the first road-mobile, solid-fuel missile deployed by China, it is the first one capable of striking the continental United States.
If the use the N-weapon, we'll be using the F-word.
US TOLD TO LEAVE CENTRAL ASIA [Russia & China demand "deadline."]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437369/posts
Russia will equip Iranian Submarines with Missiles
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437370/posts
Orthodox Church Says Western Human Rights Don’t Suit Russia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437110/posts
CIS military exercise taking place in Russia
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050624/40757551.html
Russia will preserve its positions in Iran under any president
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1430361/posts
Russia, N.Korea, China give Iran missile aid -CIA
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/519198/posts
China, Russia, Iran and our next move (2/10/02)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/626057/posts
US accuses Russia and China over North Korea bomb (10/19/02)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/772101/posts
China warns of new arms race if ABM treaty is amended: Russia & China
working together to stop NMD (6/6/00)
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a393d1b287e37.htm
China, Russia and Central Asia unite against US missile shield
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b29ebac7e95.htm
Red China and Russia unite to create New World Order says communist newspaper (6/18/01)
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b2e42bd0629.htm
CIA: Russia, China working on information warfare (6/21/01)
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b32d9f412df.htm
US blasts Russia, China for opposition to Iraq sanctions plan (6/26/01)
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b38e03721e5.htm
Russia, China sign historic friendship treaty (7/16/01)
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b533a696e56.htm
CHINESE DAM CRAFTMANSHIP:
No crack anymore on the Three Gorges dam: official
There will be no crack anymore on the dam of the right bank of the Three Gorges Project, which is now under construction, even the whole dam, said chief of the China Three Gorges Project Corporation.
The June saw the first anniversary of the completion of the water storage in Three Gorges reservoir, the concrete construction is underway for the dam of the bank on the right. Cao Guangjing, deputy general manager of Three Gorges Project Corporation, said they would try to ensure there would be no crack anymore on the dam. This is not only a wish and a goal but also an assurance.
The Three Gorges Projects consist of three phases: the five-year-long first phase (1993-1997), the second (1997-2003), which is mainly for the dam on the left bank, and the third (2003-2009) phase for the dam of the bank on the right.
Cracks had been found in the completed left dam. Now reporters can not find any there. Staff members told that due to factors like weather, over 80 cracks had been found on the left dam, but they were merely 0.1 to 0.2 millimeter's wide instead of as wide as hand could reach in as rumored.
Cao assured that the cracks are not deep enough as to affect the security of the dam. Presently, chemical grouting has been done to eliminate leakage. Sources say that such cracks mentioned above are defined as "quality defects" in official documents.
The responsible did face up to the defects and accidents during the construction of Three Gorges Project ten years ago. The responsible person said that serious sum-up and review have been made to avoid the reoccurrence of the same problem.
He said, "on the whole good" was the rating given by the expert panel for the quality appraisal of Three Gorges Project under the State Council. But, such wording as "on the whole" will never be affixed on the appraisal of the third phase.
As learned, management in quality has been tightened in the third phase with new technologies applied. The cracks on the dam of the left bank originated mainly from the linkages of concrete pouring. During concrete pouring, internal high temperature and low temperature on the surface sometimes led to cracks. But now, after the pouring, cooling process is added for the concrete, and during cold seasons, there will be cover to maintain the proper temperature.
New temperature-keeping materials such as polystyrene panel, instead of ordinary foamed materials for the linkages in the second phase, are used in the third phase, said Peng Gang, deputy director of the construction section of Three Gorges Project Corporation.
When asked whether cracks would have been avoided if such operations were done for the second phase then, Peng said that reasons for cracks to happen were quite complicated and almost inevitable for all the dams worldwide. With the lesson drawn from the left dam and many tests have been done by the constructors to prevent cracks to happen.
By People's Daily Online
So you guys still think terrorism of Islamic origin is our major threat?
Yes. I also know how long it takes to train, test and field weaponry. It took the Soviets and the U.S. a long time to build up significant numbers of ICBMs. It also took a vast amount of money. Perhaps it is more instructive to look at China's vulnerability and our strength in a nuclear exchange. We would have plenty of warning to get our ICBMs in the air. Our first wave would dwarf China's and we would have a tremendous second wave if needed from our SSBNs. China has some large land adversaries, will they shoot everything at us? But China, about the same size as the U.S., has a much more compact population. Again, again, again, I'm not trying to say that the Chinese aren't a worry. They can cause trouble and do some damage, especially if we underestimate them. I'm simply saying that we are currently holding a vastly superior hand, if we don't forget how to play it.
And they still are, with the variant that the principal importers and other internationally-conflicted companies are lobbying like quislings...did you see THIS?:
House Rejects Bill Monitoring China Arms Sales
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, WASHINGTON, July 15, 2005
The U.S. House of Representatives on July 14 rejected a measure that would have imposed stiff penalties on European firms selling weapons technology to China.
By a vote of 215 to 203, the “East Asia Security Act” failed to garner the two-thirds majority needed for passage after U.S. business groups reportedly expressed concerns that they would be hurt by the measure.
Congressional officials said after the vote that the legislation’s author, Republican Henry Hyde, will make a second attempt to pass the bill next week by inserting it in State Department funding legislation, where it has better odds of passage.
The bill welcomed deferral of an EU decision to terminate an arms embargo to China, but expressed concern that sales could proceed indirectly via various loopholes, since some European firms which reportedly have aided Beijing’s military build-up are also participants in leading edge U.S. weapons programs.
Among other measures, the legislation called on U.S. President George W. Bush to make an annual report to Congress “identifying every foreign person of the EU that has exported to China any arms or dual use technology for military end use since January 1, 2005.”
Tell me about it ~ I lived in the SF Bay Area from '48 until '90. :)
But Am I the only ony one that Thought of Fifty Cent?
"Wal-Mart was mentioned simply as an exemplification of the problem. Of course we would need to stop buying all Chinese goods, how hard is that to understand? I don't recall that Thailand, India, Japan, et. al. have raised the possibility of nuclear war"
In the past Russia, and recently North Korea has threatened the U.S. with nucs. I simply find it odd and suspicious when Wal-Mart is the only retailer repeatedly targeted regarding China made products when IN FACT ALL retailers from super chain retailers to (YES) Mom n Pop retailers (See Ebay and flea/antique malls) purchase China made products. Even (((shudder)) Mardel the large exclusively religious only product retail chain carries mostly China/Mexican made products. So if Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, etc., are going to play the blame game they should hold every retailer to the same fire.
They probably did not do that. But everyone knows the score on Aswan High Dam and Mecca.
If Israel goes down, they go with it.
What response would you suggest?
I don't know. I feel China will slip in and annex Taiwan while we are busy dealing with the aftermath of blows by AQ...
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