A Chinese general has warned that China was ready to use nuclear weapons against the United States if Washington attacked his country over Taiwan, the Financial Times reported on Friday. Zhu Chenghu, a major general in the People's Liberation Army who 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.
"If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition onto the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," he told an official briefing for foreign journalists.
A spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry noted that the general had said in the article he was not speaking on behalf of the government. A spokesman later said the ministry was looking into the matter.
The Defence Ministry declined to comment, saying the Foreign Ministry had organised the event at which the general spoke.
China has claimed Taiwan as its own since their split in 1949, and vowed to bring the self-governed democracy back into the fold. In March, China's parliament passed an anti-secession law authorising the use of "non-peaceful means" to do so.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged China on Friday to resume dialogue with Taiwan before Beijing hosts the Olympics in 2008, saying it would enhance China's standing internationally. "This will also greatly advance China's international standing and reputation as a global player with a particular responsibility for peace and security in East Asia," Barroso, on his first visit to China as commission president, said.
Beijing has refused to deal with Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, who takes a pro-independence stance on the self-ruled island that China has vowed to attack if it formally declares statehood.
Zhu, the general, 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," he 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," he added.
China first tested a nuclear bomb in 1964. It has declared a policy of not using such weapons unless it has already suffered nuclear attack.
Taiwan's defence ministry declined to comment directly on Zhu's comments, saying it would monitor the issue. But spokesman Liou Chih-chien added by telephone: "The use of nuclear weapons is something that the international community will condemn."
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