China, firm on Taiwan, says general’s words his own

BEIJING (Reuters) – Remarks by a Chinese general that
Beijing could use nuclear arms against the United States in a
war over Taiwan were his personal views, but China will never
allow Taiwan to be independent, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

“We will firmly abide by the principles of peaceful
reunification and ‘one country two systems’ and we will express
the deepest sincerity and exert the greatest efforts to realize
peaceful reunification,” state-mouthpiece Xinhua news agency
reported a ministry spokesman as saying late on Friday.

But, he added: “We will never tolerate ‘Taiwan
Independence’, neither will we allow anybody with any means to
separate Taiwan from the motherland.”

The Financial Times reported on Friday that Zhu Chenghu, a
general in the People’s Liberation Army, said China would have
no option but to go nuclear in the event of an attack over the
contentious Taiwan issue.

Zhu had told reporters visiting from Hong Kong he was
expressing his own views and did not anticipate a conflict with
Washington, it said.

Nevertheless, a State Department spokesman called the
remarks irresponsible.

Beijing considers Taiwan, split politically from the
mainland since 1949, a part of China and has vowed to bring the
it back into the fold. In March, China passed an anti-secession
law authorizing the use of “non-peaceful means” to do so.

While the United States only recognizes one China and says
it does not support Taiwan independence, Washington is bound by
law to help the democratic island of 23 million people defend
itself.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman did not explicitly
say that Zhu’s comments conflicted with policy. However, China
has had a declared policy of not using its nuclear weapons
unless it has already suffered nuclear attack.

Zhu is dean of China’s University of National Defense.

“Zhu had repeatedly emphasized that he would express
personal views on the issues that the reporters are interested
in before they started discussions,” the Foreign Ministry
spokesman said.

He said he hoped the United States would “join efforts with
China to maintain the peace and stability across the Taiwan
Straits.”

“We firmly believe it is in the interests of both China and
the United States, as well as benefits the peace, stability and
development of the Asia Pacific region and the whole world, to
oppose ‘Taiwan Independence’ and maintain the peace and
stability across the Taiwan Straits,” he was quoted as saying.