Not in the Post Watch: Nukes & Taiwan

Bearing in mind there are different factions in China. I hope:

China stocks nuke as anti-U.S. tactic by the Washington Times' Bill Gertz--

China is building up its nuclear forces as part of a secret strategy targeting the United States, according to a former Chinese diplomat.
    China's strategy calls for "proactive defense," and senior Chinese Communist Party leaders think that building nuclear arms is the key to countering U.S. power in Asia and other parts of the world, said Chen Yonglin, a diplomat who defected to Australia two months ago.
    A recent comment by a Chinese general shows that Beijing's leaders are prepared to launch "a pre-emptive attack on the country considered a huge threat to China," Mr. Chen said.
    Chinese Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu told reporters two weeks ago that China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against "hundreds" of U.S. cities if a conflict breaks out over Taiwan....

Mr. Chen, who is visiting the United States and testified before a House committee last week, said that during internal discussions among Communist Party and government leaders and military commanders, military leaders often have urged going to war against Taiwan, a self-governing island -- also known as the Republic of China -- that broke with the mainland in 1949.

"I've heard a lot about the results of those meetings, and most of the military forces leaders advocate the use of force the earlier the better to solve the Taiwan issue," Mr. Chen said.

Comments

[planetmoron]

A preemptive strike only works if it preempts something. China can't preempt our nuclear submarine fleet which would retain the capacity to retaliate in force (carefully preserving the Nike factories of course).

[Christopher Fotos]

Good strategery.

Sounds to me like there's a crazy Chinese general running around over there. More likely--and what worries me more--is the talk about Taiwan.