PLA recklessness could lead to war

[dArKeR]

People's Liberation Army Major General Zhu Chenghu's (???) remarks to Hong Kong journalists about using nuclear weapons against the US in a conflict over Taiwan will probably be put down to undiplomatic willy-waving by a soldier out to impress, and -- in terms of PR skills -- out of his depth. That is, at least, how people in China and the US are likely to spin it, if only because to take notice of it in any serious way would be at the very least embarrassing and could have grave consequences toward US-China relations.

It is a standard tactic in both China and Taiwan to have someone make a statement about some controversial policy in a way that it remains plausibly deniable for the government yet gets the information into the public domain.

Yet it is difficult to imagine exactly why the Chinese government might want to confront the US in such a way at this moment. The "Anti-Secession" Law, with its explicit threat against an independent Taiwan, has already given impetus to a rethink of US defense policy regarding China, and has done much to resolve the murky ambiguity surrounding US reaction to China's military buildup toward strategic clarity. When US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asks just why and for what purpose China is beefing up its armed forces when it faces no external threat, we can see that the days when China was viewed through Clintonian rose-colored spectacles have clearly passed.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2005/07/16/2003263772

Bring em on!

[dArKeR]

1. State Department condemns threats by PLA general

The US State Department has condemned as "highly irresponsible" remarks by a senior Chinese military officer that Beijing should use nuclear weapons if the US intervenes to defend Taiwan against an attack from China.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack made the comment in response to statements made Thursday by People's Liberation Army General Zhu Chenghu (???), the head of the Institute for Strategic Studies at Beijing's National Defense University, to a group of Western correspondents based in Hong Kong.

"We hope these comments don't reflect the views of the Chinese government," McCormack said at his regular daily news briefing. "I haven't seen all the remarks, but what I've seen of them, I would say that they're highly irresponsible."

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2005/07/17/2003263829