NEWS: China Affirms 'No First Use' Nuke Policy

China's Foreign Minister has denied the claim made by Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, that his country would consider using nuclear weapons if the United States intervened in a conflict over Taiwan. Citing his claims as "only his personal view" the Minister reaffirmed his countries "No First Use" policy. The statement was an attempt to quell an uproar over the statements that the U.S. State Department termed as "highly irresponsible"



I'm not surprised as I doubt the Chinese would risk everything over Taiwan. If a nuke was detonated in or around U.S. forces, the U.S. would respond in kind. i doubt highly that the exchange would be contained there and would rapidly escalate. This was the very scenario everyone feared during the cold war. I'm glad to see there is a bit of sense in the Communist leadership there. On the other hand this may have simply been a political exercise to test our reaction.

Imo, this is your standard statement, in the context of standard damage control resulting from their recent inclusion in U.S. headlines........what else are they going to say.........

It's like expecting a report way in advance of an impending meteorite impact.......ain't gonna happen.......

Im always suspicious and this may have been an attempt to gague US reaction etc. Take some rouge nut in an upper position and let him pop off and see what happens. You can bet that if China starts waving the nuke threat over Taiwan:

1) The USN puts nukes back on the ships and the AF puts them back on the ALCM (Or some black stealthy cruise missile)

2) Taiwan starts its own crash program and develops IRBM and some crowd pleasers to top them off with.

3) The US opens the door and pretty much lets Taiwan buy what they want.

Im not surprised they are backing off.

That's good news for all I believe. Especially if annouced today.
Thanks for posting it.

Dallas

Is it possible, d'ya think, that China is trying to give N Korea a nudge towards disarming; or at the very least agreeing not to use their nukes on us.? Just a thought and I'm probably wrong.

Originally posted by lightseeker
Is it possible, d'ya think, that China is trying to give N Korea a nudge towards disarming; or at the very least agreeing not to use their nukes on us.? Just a thought and I'm probably wrong.

I don't know I sometimes wonder how much control China really has over old Crazy Kim.

Well that's a relief considering I will be hit first since I live on the West Coast .

Originally posted by Blackout
Well that's a relief considering I will be hit first since I live on the West Coast

.

All the more reason to get the missile shield perfected. With interceptors in Ft. Greely and 2 at Vandenberg, a shiled would knock down many (assuming its working). i think its money well spent.

Speaking of missile shield, how far has that project come along anyway? Has it been abandoned?

The US should realize that if it wants to stay a superpower, it NEEDS to perfect that missile shield. No use fighting wars imo, as it should always be defense first, offense second. When nukes are out of the question, we are virtually faced with NO MILITARY THREAT.

Missile shield can only defend against a small amount of ICBMs coming from a rogue state, not a ballistic missile barrage from a nuclear power. The missile shield constantly fails tests and failed one a few days ago I believe (correct me on this). If the missile shield works (it sure isn't right now), you MIGHT be able to stop the estimated 6 nuclear warheads that Kim has in his basement, might.

Originally posted by COWlan
Missile shield can only defend against a small amount of ICBMs coming from a rogue state, not a ballistic missile barrage from a nuclear power. .

Yes, I agree but the system can be easily expanded to cover say 40-50 missiles (100 interceptors). Like every system that has been deployed there are and will be bugs, but people have become so risk adverse that anything less than 100% is considered a failure. Stuff like this takes time.

China is still a communist dictatorship with decades of blood on its hands. You can't possibly determine their actual policy from any public statement, which are always made with propaganda values in mind. Probably they don't know themselves when they would use a nuke.

AlexofSkye, America also has decades of blood on their hands as does every Nation.

As for a "Missile Shield" would it matter? If the missile goes off, even off course it will still do massive amounts of damage if it is nuclear. :|

Originally posted by FredT

Originally posted by lightseeker
Is it possible, d'ya think, that China is trying to give N Korea a nudge towards disarming; or at the very least agreeing not to use their nukes on us.? Just a thought and I'm probably wrong.

I don't know I sometimes wonder how much control China really has over old Crazy Kim.

China provides N. Korea with pretty much all of its oil, just about the last thing keeping lights on in N. Korean homes. Also, it keeps a close watch on the amount of illicit trade going on across the borders, from where N. Korea gets a lot of its food. As for to what degree Kim recognizes his dependance on China in these aspects, it's hard to say, given that he is nuts. I remember a while back though when N. Korea was being especially reluctant to negotiate China pulled the plug on N. Korean oil for 24 hours, after which the N. Koreans promptly returned to the negotiating table.

-koji K.

This is great news, but China's responsibilities toward the nuclear danger in the area has not been resolved. They created Kim Jong Il, so why aren't they defusing him? Why are they provoking their non-nuke Japanese neighbors?

In any case, missile defense, IMO, is only feasible up you catch the rockets on the way up. Once the warheads detach and begin their descent, it's way, way harder to hit them. My thought for missile defense is to use SAM-type devices that are positioned covertly within your opponent's coastal waters, maybe even sub-launched. You'd need to have a superfast, superhot missile fly right up the tailpipe of the ICBM before it gets too far away. You have to hit the rocket in its boost phase.

Does anybody believe the Alex Jones statement that the US can see even the tiniest bit of radioactive material from satellite imagery? That they actually know where know where every warhead is but they won't reveal this fact? I find this hard to believe, but he has said this on a couple of occasions.

Originally posted by smallpeeps
This is great news, but China's responsibilities toward the nuclear danger in the area has not been resolved. They created Kim Jong Il, so why aren't they defusing him? Why are they provoking their non-nuke Japanese neighbors?

It is called World War two and the milliosn upon millions of Chinese people that got killed and Japense people who got away with it.

It is still a sore point in China.

Good news, but expected.

China's only hope of weakening, or beating, the U.S. is economic strength at home. But that's a two edged sword, because as they get stronger economically, it will become increasingly hard for them to remain a communist country. I'll bet it really galls them that western culture, or the lack of it, depending upon your viewpoint, is overtaking their country. By the time they get strong enough to really challenge the U.S. they'll be more capitalistic than communist and their fervent desire to reunify Taiwan simply won't matter any more.

You know...........I always have struggle with trusting the words of leaders in nations that wield so much potential consequences to the citizens of this planet............and with technologies in weapontry providing a bigger stick for them all to point at each other I trust them even less these days.......Not just China but all of them........

Funny thing..........at least with a wacko like Kim in N. Korea you can almost trust what he is saying because he is crazy enough to tell it like it is..........

Bizarre uh?

China would not use nukes on anyone. They have to much to lose as becoming one of the biggest producers of material goods in the world (especially of American goods).

What company would willingly kill off it's customers?

Imo, this is your standard statement, in the context of standard damage control resulting from their recent inclusion in U.S. headlines........what else are they going to say.........

Pretty much it in a nutshell really...standard damage control, nothing more, nothing less. Though the recent influx of the "China wouldn't hurt you, China is warm and fuzzy" posts may indicate something a little more than just damage control....