Chinese General Threatens Use of A-Bombs if U.S. Intrudes

July 15, 2005
By JOSEPH KAHN

BEIJING, Friday, July 15 - China should use nuclear weapons against the United States if the American military intervenes in any conflict over Taiwan, a senior Chinese military official said 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," the official, Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, said at an official briefing.
General Zhu, considered a hawk, stressed that his comments reflected his personal views and not official policy. Beijing has long insisted that it will not initiate the use of nuclear weapons in any conflict.
But in extensive comments to a visiting delegation of correspondents based in Hong Kong, General Zhu said he believed that the Chinese government was under internal pressure to change its "no first use" policy and to make clear that it would employ the most powerful weapons at its disposal to defend its claim over Taiwan.
"War logic" dictates that a weaker power needs to use maximum efforts to defeat a stronger rival, he said, speaking in fluent English. "We have no capability to fight a conventional war against the United States," General Zhu said. "We can't win this kind of war."
Whether or not the comments signal a shift in Chinese policy, they come at a sensitive time in relations between China and the United States.
The Pentagon is preparing the release of a long-delayed report on the Chinese military that some experts say will warn that China could emerge as a strategic rival to the United States. National security concerns have also been a major issue in the $18.5 billion bid by Cnooc Ltd., a major Chinese oil and gas company, to purchase the Unocal Corporation, the American energy concern.
China has had atomic bombs since 1964 and currently has a small arsenal of land- and sea-based nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States, according to most Western intelligence estimates. Some Pentagon officials have argued that China has been expanding the size and sophistication of its nuclear bombs and delivery systems, while others argue that Beijing has done little more than maintain a minimal but credible deterrent against a nuclear attack.
Beijing has said repeatedly that it would use military force to prevent Taiwan from becoming a formally independent country. President Bush has made clear that the United States would defend Taiwan.
Many military analysts have assumed that any battle over Taiwan would be localized, with both China and the United States taking care to ensure that it would not expand into a general war between the two powers.
But the comments by General Zhu suggest that at least some elements of the military are prepared to widen the conflict, perhaps to persuade the United States that it could no more successfully fight a limited war against China than it could against the former Soviet Union.
"If the Americans are determined to interfere, then we will be determined to respond," he said. "We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all the cities east of Xian. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese."
General Zhu's threat is not the first of its kind from a senior Chinese military official. In 1995, Xiong Guangkai, who is now the deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, told Chas W. Freeman, a former Pentagon official, that China would consider using nuclear weapons in a Taiwan conflict. Mr. Freeman quoted Mr. Xiong as saying that Americans should worry more about Los Angeles than Taipei.
Foreign Ministry officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment about General Zhu's remarks.
General Zhu said he had recently expressed his views to former American officials, including Mr. Freeman and Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the former commander in chief of the United States Pacific Command.
David Lague of The International Herald Tribune contributed reporting for this article.


U.S. Rebukes Chinese General for His Threat of Nuclear Arms Use
July 16, 2005
By JOEL BRINKLEY

WASHINGTON, July 15 - A Chinese general who said his country would use nuclear weapons against the United States if the American military intervened in any conflict with Taiwan drew a sharp rebuke from the Bush administration on Friday.
Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, called the remarks "highly irresponsible" - unusually strong language for Mr. McCormack, who was in Beijing with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just four days ago. He added, "We hope that these are not the views of the Chinese government."
During an official briefing for a visiting delegation of Hong Kong-based reporters on Thursday, the officer, Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, said China would "respond with nuclear weapons" if the United States attacked China because "we have no capability to fight a conventional war against the United States."
The general, considered a hawk, insisted that his comments reflected his personal views, not official policy.
China's Foreign Ministry also said late Friday that the general's remarks reflected his own views, but that China would never support independence for Taiwan.
China has long maintained that it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict. But in China, it is quite unusual for any official to offer strong personal opinions contrary to government policy on important subjects.
Emotions in China run hot on the subject of Taiwan. A senior Chinese official, asked why Beijing was now spending large sums to build up its military, even with no perceivable threat, did not hesitate when he said, "But we do face legitimate threats, from the secessionists in Taiwan and from terrorists."
During a news briefing, Mr. McCormack said: "The United States is not a threat to China. We have a broad and deep relationship." Robert B. Zoellick, the deputy secretary of state, is on his way to Beijing, where he will begin a regular discussion with Chinese officials on the many issues of common interest and concern. Because of that, Mr. McCormack said, "The remarks from that one individual are unfortunate."


Beijing Downplays General's Nuke Comment
July 16, 2005
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 5:25 a.m. ET

BEIJING (AP) -- China tried to quell an uproar Saturday over a general's comment that Beijing might use nuclear weapons against the United States in a conflict over Taiwan, saying the statement was his personal opinion.
But the communist government reaffirmed that it would not permit the self-ruled island to pursue formal independence -- a step Beijing says it would go to war to stop.
The U.S. State Department on Friday criticized the remark by Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, a dean at China's National Defense University, as ''highly irresponsible'' and asked for Chinese assurance that it didn't reflect official thinking.
Zhu told visiting Hong Kong-based reporters recently that China would respond with nuclear weapons if the United States drew its missiles and position-guided ammunition into the target zone on China's territory.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Zhu's comments were ''personal views,'' citing a statement from the Foreign Ministry issued late Friday.
''Zhu had repeatedly emphasized that he would express personal view on the issues that the reporters were interested in,'' the statement said, according to Xinhua.
It did not say how China would respond to a U.S. attack or mention its nuclear readiness. China is one of five countries that have acknowledged their nuclear weapons stockpiles and agreed to negotiate toward nuclear disarmament. The other recognized nuclear states are the United States, Russia, Britain, and France.
The statement added that China would ''never tolerate Taiwan independence'' and would not allow ''anybody with any means to separate Taiwan from the motherland.''
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.
However, the statement said ''we firmly abide by the principles of peaceful reunification.''
In Taipei, an official in charge of Taiwan's policy toward Beijing said Zhu should apologize for comments that conflict with ''mainstream thinking of the civilized world.''