Chinese general punished for nuclear gaffe

Reuters/Benjamin Kang Lim | December 22 2005

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese general has been punished for telling reporters China could use nuclear weapons in the event of a U.S. attack over Taiwan, military sources said on Thursday.

Major General Zhu Chenghu received an "administrative demerit" recently from the National Defence University, which bars him from promotion for one year, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

"He misspoke. But the punishment could not be too harsh or we would be seen as too weak towards the United States," one source told Reuters.

An administrative demerit is the second lightest punishment on a scale of one to five, but still potentially damaging to his career. The lightest is an administrative warning, while the heaviest is expulsion.

"His chances for promotion in the future are extremely slim," another source said.

The Defence Ministry declined to comment.

In July, Zhu told a group of visiting Hong Kong-based reporters China would have no choice but to resort to nuclear weapons in the event of a U.S. attack over democratic Taiwan, which Beijing has claimed as its own since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

The United States, which switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979 but remains the island's main arms supplier and has pledged to help Taiwan defend itself, criticised Zhu's comments as irresponsible.

China has sought to play down the gaffe, saying Zhu's remarks were his personal views. But China says it will never allow self-ruled Taiwan to declare independence formally.

Zhu is not the first Chinese general to warn the United States of possible nuclear conflict.

Xiong Guangkai warned Chas Freeman, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defence, in 1995 that China could use nuclear weapons in any conflict over Taiwan and that Americans cared more about Los Angeles than Taipei.

That warning coincided with menacing Chinese war games and missile tests off Taiwan waters in the run-up to the island's first direct presidential elections in 1996.

Xiong, 66, retired this month as deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army after passing the compulsory retirement age of 65.

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