BEIJING (AFP) - China could use nuclear weapons to retaliate against the United States if it attacked in any conflict over Taiwan, reports said citing a Chinese general.
"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.
His comments were reported by the Financial Times and the Asian Wall Street Journal, which attended a briefing with the general organised by a private Hong Kong organisation, the Better Hong Kong Foundation.
"If the Americans are determined to interfere (then) we will be determined to respond," said Zhu, 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."
Analysts said the remarks were largely rhetoric but also indicated that Beijing wanted to show the United States it was serious about Taiwan.
"China's leaders, especially the military, think it is important for weaker countries like China to demonstrate their willingness to defend their core interests," Joseph Cheng, a political analyst at City University in Hong Kong, told AFP.
"It's an old-fashioned strategy that is also meant for domestic consumption.
"On the Taiwan issue, the US government tends to adopt a strategic ambiguity approach. On the part of China, it wants to show it is ready to make the sacrifices," Cheng said.
China's military spending has risen at an average double-digit rate over the past decade, hitting 24.5 billion US dollars in 2004.
Despite this, it would still not have the capability to fight a conventional war against the United States, leaving the nuclear card as the only option, analysts said.
Although China has a no first-strike nuclear policy, Zhu said he believed the policy applied to non-nuclear powers and could be changed, the reports said.
Posted by independenthongkong
at 2:30 AM JST
