Zhu Chenghu, a top Chinese general of the People's Liberation Army, warned that China is ready to use nuclear weapons against the United States if Washington attacks his country over Taiwan, the Financial Times reported on July 15. Gen. Zhu said the threat to escalate a conflict might be the only way to stop one because China did not have the capability to fight a conventional war with the United States. `If the Americans are determined to interfere ... 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,'' he added.
But Gen. Zhu said he was expressing his own views and did not anticipate a conflict with Washington, nevertheless said China would have no option but to go nuclear in the event of an attack. The Defense Ministry declined to comment, saying the Foreign Ministry had organized the event at which the general spoke.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged China on July 15 to resume dialogue with Taiwan before Beijing hosts the Olympics in 2008. China has a declared policy of not using its nuclear weapons unless it has already suffered nuclear attack. The newspaper observed that it was unclear what prompted the remarks, but noted that they were the most specific by a senior Chinese official in nearly a decade.
Beijing downplayed general's comment, saying the statement was his personal opinion. 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. (Source: Reuters and AP, The New York Times, July 15-16,2005).