Posted on 07/14/2005 6:09:27 PM PDT by ChristianDefender
A Chinese military official says Beijing will use nuclear weapons against the U.S. if the Americans attack the Asian nation in a fight over Taiwan.
"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, according to the Financial Times.
Speaking at a function organized for foreign journalists, the official noted the definition of China's territory includes warships and aircraft.
"If the Americans are determined to interfere [then] we will be determined to respond," 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."
The Financial Times notes Zhu is a self-acknowledged "hawk" who has warned previously that China could strike the U.S. 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.
Zhu is not the first Chinese official to mention the use of nuclear weapons first in a conflict over Taiwan.
Chas Freeman, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense, said in 1999 that a PLA official had told him China could respond in kind to a nuclear strike by the U.S. in the event of a conflict with Taiwan.
"In the end you care more about Los Angeles than you do about Taipei," Freeman quoted this official as saying.
Though official U.S. policy on Taiwan is that it is part of mainland China – the "one China" policy – President Bush has said the U.S. would defend the island republic if it were attacked by Beijing.
China has been able to nuke the US since the early Reagan Administration.
You left out KERRY AND HITLERY
Is anyone surprised? The truth is China may not have to fire a shot if they economically collapse the US by unloading the trillions in US treasury debt they hold, shutting down the Panama Canal, ceasing production at their Unocal refineries, and on and on.
China would probably use their nukes if they want to try Taiwan, if they are so blinded by ambition. On the other hand, the idea that Alqaida would gain anything at all from using nukes is vermiculate thinking. In any case, thinking we might be nuked any day is hardly new; some here have lived through the fifties when Civil Defense was for real. There is little that can be done by civilians in preparation.
You left out KERRY AND HITLERY
Yes I did. There are so many of them I can hardly keep track. I only recall the ones I've heard screaming and scratching in the last hour.
Related:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1443165/posts
Top Chinese general warns US over attack (Nuke)
Thanks to Bill Clinton, they have the technology to help those missiles reach us. However, when their twenty or so are done exploding, our hundreds will wipe China from the face of the Earth, and we will survive as a nation, while China will be uninhabitable for years.
You have no idea if you believe that. This place would be a mess. China would be gone altogether. In a few decades another nation would assemble itself here in North America. Beyond that who knows.
Well....
Well, I don't see any preparations being made and Civil Defense is long gone.
If we nuke them, will we want to nuke them again half an hour later?
They're holding the debt.
If it becomes worthless they're more screwed than us.
Please note my #28. I stand by it.
And is that little icon an "OCP"?
You're right about that... but i guess almost every nation in the world is aware that once they messed up with the U.S. (with nuclear stuff) ...they're guaranteed of M.A.D.
even the Russians knew about that...
I wouldn't bet on it. Maybe we would have second thoughts about a red city but all blue cities have more of their friends than ours.
Huh?
Suggest you do a little fact checking just like we ask the left to do when they post nonsense.
First, Japan holds the most US debt at 685 billion. Mainland China is second at 230 billion.
That's a far cry from "trillions'.
See:
http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt
As for the Canal, I live in Panama City and you not well informed about what you are talking about. The Chinese are a small part of what goes on here. There are no guys in Chinese uniforms with guns walking around the Canal. The US has a defense clause in the treaty, which entitles us to come back if the Canal is threatened by anyone. The Chinese are managing the ports and are actually doing a good job.
Panama has plenty of armed forces compared to the Chinese population here. They will defend it as well since it is a major source of revenue for the country.
China would collapse if they upset the trade they depend on for their own survival. Without a strong American trade account, they are very hard pressed to make ends meet if at all.
"There is little that can be done by civilians in preparation."
If you are at ground zero there is little that can be done. If you are 5, 10 or 15 miles (depending on the size of the nuke) from ground zero that is a lot that can and needs to be done. We need to have an active civil defense program if for nothing more than psychological preparation - it will make the U.S. public much more resilent to threats. Lefties hate civil defense because they want to make us feel helpless so that we will surrender.
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