A General in the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and dean at the National Defense University in China commented to visiting Hong Kong reporters on Friday that the PLA might use nuclear weapons against the U.S., in a conflict over the Taiwan Strait . "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," Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu said to the reporters of the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times . "We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian [in central China]. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds ... of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese." U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called the remarks "highly irresponsible" and "unfortunate", and expressed the hope that they did not reflect the views of the Chinese government. The U.S. may defend Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act and is currently Taiwan's largest arms supplier .
A General in the Chinese (PLA) and dean at the National Defense University in China commented to visiting Hong Kong reporters on Friday that the PLA might use nuclear weapons against the U.S., in a conflict over the . "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," Maj. Gen. said to the reporters of the and the . "We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of [in central China]. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds ... of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese." U.S. State Department spokesman called the remarks "highly irresponsible" and "unfortunate", and expressed the hope that they did not reflect the views of the Chinese government. The U.S. may defend Taiwan under the and is currently .
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People's Liberation Army
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Taiwan Strait
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Zhu Chenghu
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Asian Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times
and the
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Xian
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Sean McCormack
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Taiwan Relations Act
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Taiwan's largest arms supplier