Chinese Saber Rattling

An article in todays NY Times, Chinese General Threatens Use of A-Bombs if U.S. Intrudes, mentions the comment from a Major General from the so-called People's Army. He openly advocates the PRC's nuclear first-strike capability against the US in a Sino-US struggle over Taiwan. He wants to change the PRC's official policy against using nukes first. Keep in mind that it is generally believed that the PRC has nuclear-tipped ICBM's that could reach Western coastal cities of the US.

I would note that the Party leadership and their cronies in the military (or is it the other way around?) are good at beating their swords against their shields, especially in the face of mounting domestic unrest and international pressure. "When in doubt, threaten Taiwan" seems to be the mantra of the PRC for more than fifty years now. So we must take this rationally while also realizing that China is a nuclear power with a sizeable pool of citizens to draw into a traditional military draft if they so choose.

It's all games with the Communist Party, but we should up the ante and nip this talk in the bud. There will be no quarter for talk--veiled or not--of annihilating our cities as we defend their brethren across the Taiwan Strait. And we are quite vocal in an all-options military policy when it comes to threats to our security. The general seemed to offer up all the cities east of Xian (the first Imperial capital of China), which is basically all of China's cities! Interesting.

MEMO TO BEIJING: We're not willing to offer up any of our cities nor the democratic and free city of Taipei!