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
Agreed. All this time, pledging solidarity with Taiwan- then sucking up to the PRC....
Does anyone even recall what a nuclear weapon does anymore?
They were supposed to be the weapons to end all wars.....
The Chinese leadership has to love this "general".
All he's done is ensure that our first response to an
attack on Taiwan will be a counterforce nuclear strike
in the heart of China instead of a conventional attack
that would leave the nuclear initiative with China.
That means that China's only option is a nuclear "Pearl
Harbor" in advance of an invasion, which would provoke
a response that would make invading Taiwan all but
impossible.
"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."
You are right. Walmart is just a stereotype. Walmart is the easiest because they are the biggest. But many others are just as guilty. And frankly, I do not have a problem with buying stuff from other nations. I just have a problem with buyings stuff from nations whose government is communist, crushes religious freedom, and whose military leaders threaten to nuke us, and we keep buying the stuff because they are the cheapest. But maybe I'm being overreactive (sarc)
" I just have a problem with buyings stuff from nations whose government is communist, crushes religious freedom, and whose military leaders threaten to nuke us, and we keep buying the stuff because they are the cheapest. But maybe I'm being overreactive (sarc)"
Well don't just sit there armchair quarterbacking little peons like me about it. B*TCH to all the retailers big and small, super chains and Mom n Pop stores, flea/antique dealers, E-commerce retailers, interior designers and the rest of the global retail sector. And save your "sarc" for a rainy day.
Yeah, I'm not the sharpest tool in the box sometimes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.