China General Threatens U.S., With Nukes, Over Taiwan

[Gold9472]

Nuclear threat to US over Taiwan conflict

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1695360,00.html

From Tim Reid
7/15/2005

CHINA is willing to use nuclear weapons against the United States if it is attacked in a conflict over Taiwan, a senior Chinese military official said last night.

“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 press briefing for foreign journalists.

General Zhu, a well-known hawk who has said before that China could strike the US with long-ranged missiles, said his comments were “my assessment”, and not the “policy of the Government”.

Nevertheless, his threat, in which he emphasised that China’s definition of its territories included warships and aircraft, is the first time for a decade that a senior official in Beijing has used such provocative rhetoric.

General Zhu, a professor at the National Defence University in China, added: “If the Americans are determined to interfere [then] we will be determined to respond.

“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.”

Rick Fisher, a former US congressional official and an authority on the Chinese military, said the specific nature of the threat was “a new addition to China’s public discourse”.

Although General Zhu is not formally engaged with policy-making, his comments come at a sensitive time for relations between Washington and Beijing on a range of issues, including Taiwan and trade.

This week congressional hearings in Washington over the intentions of the Chinese oil company Cnooc Ltd to buy Unocal Corporation have featured strong anti-Chinese comments on Capitol Hill.

Statements such as General Zhu’s “have sort of sown the seeds in Washington that the Chinese are not just a threat, they’re a real danger”, John Tkacik, a China specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told the Asian Wall Street Journal.

Mr Tkacik said General Zhu’s comments may have been intended as a kind of “psychological warfare” to underscore China’s resolve, but that they were likely to backfire in Washington.

Taiwan has enjoyed nominal independence since 1949, but Beijing claims Taiwan as part of China. General Zhu described Taiwanese independence as “a cancer” that could spread.

China’s official doctrine has called for no first use of nuclear weapons since its first atomic test in 1964.

[Gold9472]

Top Chinese general warns US over attack

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/28cfe55a-f4a7-11d9-9dd1-00000e2511c8.html

By Alexandra Harney in Beijing and Demetri Sevastopulo and Edward Alden in Washington
Published: July 14 2005 21:59 | Last updated: July 15 2005 00:03

China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, a Chinese general said on Thursday.

“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,” said General Zhu Chenghu.

Gen Zhu was speaking at a function for foreign journalists organised, in part, by the Chinese government. He added that China's definition of its territory included warships and aircraft.

“If the Americans are determined to interfere [then] we will be determined to respond,” said Gen Zhu, who is also a professor at China's National Defence University.

“We . . . 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.”

Gen Zhu is a self-acknowledged “hawk” who has warned 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.

However, some US-based China experts cautioned that Gen Zhu probably did not represent the mainstream People's Liberation Army view.

“He is running way beyond his brief on what China might do in relation to the US if push comes to shove,” said one expert with knowledge of Gen Zhu. “Nobody who is cleared for information on Chinese war scenarios is going to talk like this,” he added.

Gen Zhu's comments come as the Pentagon prepares to brief Congress next Monday on its annual report on the Chinese military, which is expected to take a harder line than previous years. They are also likely to fuel the mounting anti-China sentiment on Capitol Hill.

In recent months, a string of US officials, including Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, have raised concerns about China's military rise. The Pentagon on Thursday declined to comment on “hypothetical scenarios”.

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 Gen 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 1996 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. The official is believed to have been Xiong Guangkai, now the PLA's deputy chief of general staff.

Gen Zhu said his views did not represent official Chinese policy and he did not anticipate war with the US.

[princesskittypoo]

*snort* my psychic friend once told me to be prepared for the invasion of the chinesse. they would be the next world power and take over.
scarey thought....

[beltman713]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050715/D8BC1C9O1.html

China General Threatens U.S. Over Taiwan

Jul 15, 4:01 PM (ET)

By JOE McDONALD

BEIJING (AP) - A Chinese general said Beijing might respond with nuclear weapons if the United States attacked China in a conflict over Taiwan, news reports said Friday.

The State Department rejected the warning as "highly irresponsible."

The exchange could add to tensions with Washington at a time of U.S. worries about China's military buildup and the proposed takeover of the oil company Unocal Corp. (UCL) by a Chinese state-run company.

"If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition into the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, a dean at China's National Defense University, told visiting Hong Kong-based reporters. His remarks were reported by The Asian Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times.

Zhu stressed he was expressing a personal view, not official policy, and was confident that China and the United States would not go to war, the reports said. While Zhu is a serving officer, he isn't involved in policymaking.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he hoped that the comments did not reflect the views of the Chinese government. From what he had seen of the quotes, McCormack said, "I would say they are highly irresponsible."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry didn't respond to requests for comment on the general's remarks. A woman who answered the phone at the protocol office of the Defense Ministry said it had no comment. She refused to give her name.

China claims Taiwan, which split from the mainland in 1949, as part of its territory and has threatened to invade if the self-governing island declares formal independence or puts off talks on unification.

Also Friday, the visiting president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, called on Beijing to open direct talks with Taiwan, saying it would help to promote peace in East Asia.

"The international community would welcome China starting a direct dialogue with Taiwan as a sign of great maturity," Barroso said in a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the government's main think tank.

Zhu was responding to a question about how China might react to U.S. involvement in a conflict with Taiwan, the Journal said. The United States is Taiwan's biggest arms supplier and could be drawn into fighting to help defend the island.

"If the Americans are determined to interfere ... we will be determined to respond, and we Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all cities east of Xi'an," a major city in central China, Zhu said.

"Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds of, or two hundreds of, (or) even more cities will be destroyed by the Chinese," he said.

The general said his comments were "my assessment, not the policy of the government," the Journal said.

China exploded its first nuclear weapon in 1964 and has an arsenal of missiles that can carry nuclear warheads.

China has a "no first strike" nuclear policy, but according to the Journal, Zhu said he believed that applied to non-nuclear powers and could be changed.

The general said China has no intention of getting into an arms race with the United States, noting the experience of the former Soviet Union as evidence of the futility of doing so, the report said.