China's nuclear weapons arsenal is coming under increasing US scrutiny after an influential general in Beijing warned of a nuclear strike on the US if China is attacked over Taiwan.
General Zhu Chenghu's (
But US experts interpreted Zhu's comments as a tacit warning by Beijing to Washington of cataclysmic consequences if it confronted China over Taiwan.
"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, warned Zhu, dean of the Institute for Strategic Studies at China's National Defense University.
He then went on to say this could lead to the destruction of "hundreds" of of American cities.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing Li (李肇星) said the general was speaking in a personal capacity, saying Beijing would not be the first to use nuclear weapons "at any time and under any condition."
But considering China's nuclear might, there is a possibility of it launching an atomic strike even before coming under attack, said Eric McVadon, an ex-defense attache at the US embassy in Beijing.
"It is not a simple straight forward question as to whether under all circumstances, China would never under any situation use nuclear weapons first," he said.
"So, we probably shouldn't completely ignore General Zhu's words and remember in that context," said McVadon, a part-time director of Asia-Pacific studies at the US Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis.
Zhu's comments came five months after China adopted its "Anti-Secession" Law allowing it to use force against any secession moves by Taiwan, triggering concerns in Washington, which is bound by law to offer Taipei the means of self-defense if its security were threatened.
"There is little doubt that China's military leadership wants the US to believe that it will use nuclear weapons against the US should it rise to defend democratic Taiwan from Chinese attack," said Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, a Washington-based think tank.
Zhu is the grandson of late Chinese leader Mao Tsu-tung's (毛澤東) long time chief of staff, an important pedigree in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Fisher said, describing China's nuclear deployments as having "coercive" potential.
The PLA, he said, now deployed a new fixed and a new mobile nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile system, he said.
In addition, China would soon deploy a longer-range mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, and about the same time, deploy a new long-range submarine-launched ballistic missile.
These new nuclear missiles -- three of which may contain multiple warheads -- would be active within five years, he said.
China is also on its way to acquiring 50 to 60 nuclear and conventional attack submarines, Fisher said.
At present, Chinese nuclear-tipped missiles are capable of reaching the US mainland without being intercepted. Zhu's remarks could draw greater support for a US missile defense system.
The size and pace of Beijing's weapons acquisitions, estimated at US$90 billion this year, could threaten the military balance with Taiwan, a recent Pentagon report on China's military power warned.
The US is the leading arms supplier to Taiwan.
Chas Freeman, a former senior Pentagon official who helped reopen defense dialogue with Beijing, said Zhu had made "a serious point which needs to be taken seriously by planners on both sides.
"I don't think it was a threat of any kind or represents policy. I think it represented an analytical point," he said.
"What it shows is that there has not been enough thinking on both sides about the implications of an escalation in a Taiwan crisis," Freeman said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and