Nuclear threat to US over Taiwan conflict

CHINA is willing to use nuclear weapons against the United States if it is attacked in a conflict over Taiwan, a senior Chinese military official said last night.
“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” Zhu Chenghu, a major general in the People’s Liberation Army, said at an official press briefing for foreign journalists.
NI_MPU('middle');General Zhu, a well-known hawk who has said before that China could strike the US with long-ranged missiles, said his comments were “my assessment”, and not the “policy of the Government”.
Nevertheless, his threat, in which he emphasised that China’s definition of its territories included warships and aircraft, is the first time for a decade that a senior official in Beijing has used such provocative rhetoric........