I'm surprised this didn't come down the pipeline over at the Ahssa Hole, but senior PRC military advisor Zhu Chenghu said that if the U.S. were involved in an attack on Chinese soil in some conflict related to Taiwan, China should fire nuclear weapons at the United States.
Wouldn't happen? China is our friend? Our economic partner?
Well, guess again: by treaty, the United States has vowed to defend the Republic of China (that's Taiwan for those of you in Rio Linda) if it is attacked by the People's Republic of China (that's the communist one with the 1.2 or 1.3 billion people, the one that is rounding up North Korean refugees and sending them back to North Korea, and also a major trading partner of the United States despite these and myriad other human rights abuses of great seriousness). That bit of political trivia, plus the fact that Beijing considers all of Taiwan to be Chinese territory, makes things a lot dicier than they should be.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wondered out loud if this reflects Beijing's official viewpoint, but even if it doesn't and this guy is a loose cannon (excuse the pun), it could still represent a serious military danger.
So, to sum up, a military leader from China, our friend and Everybody's Economic Partner, has essentially threatened to turn Washington into a sea of fire, to paraphrase the late Great Leader.
It almost makes Seoul look like the safe place to be.
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ReplyDeleteI think Zhu has said something simliar back in 1995.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say "It almost makes Seoul look like the safe place to be" I suppose you're refering to all those "S.K is anti-US" comments.
My take on that is if S.K is truly
anti-US as some folks at marmot or other "I hate korea" blogs make it out to be, then s.k would've kicked american troops out by now and went ahead with the development of nukes so they can use it to threaten the US like the chinese do.
I personally don't see china firing
nukes at US or vice versa..though never say never.
We should all know by now that strategic nuclear weapons are merely tools used to increase geopolitical leverage in diplomatic negotiations between nations. No nation ever seriously intends on using its nuclear weapons except in the most dire of circumstances. It should also be clear by now that the US doesn't entirely trust China's intentions nor does China trust the US. The Chinese nuclear weapons and even the conventional weapons buildup program are insurance against the contingency that the US military does decide to get involved later on. In any case, any kind of manifest must be backed up by muscle. But China is most serious and deadset on the Taiwan issue. The US would be well advised not to test China's political will concerning Taiwanese independence.
ReplyDelete