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

Posted on: Friday, 15 July 2005, 21:23 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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