As the China Threat Becomes More Blatant, US Media Generally Ignores It

I know I'm a little late responding to this issue, but I'm really busy. A general in the so-called "People's Liberation Army" of China announced last week that "if the Americans are determined to interfere [in any military invasion of Taiwan by the tyrants of Beijing] we will be determined to respond."

This general, Zhu Chenghu, further said that the People's Republic of China "would prepare itself for the destruction of all of its cities east of Xian -- a city in central China -- while "the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds . . . of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese."

This was the big story of the week, in my opinion. China has been promising to mount a military invasion of Taiwan for months. They have passed a law that would make it legal (within Beijing's empire) for them to invade Taiwan if Taiwan were to claim to be a sovereign nation (which it is). They even have a dress rehearsal of such an invasion scheduled in the form of a joint exercise with the Russian military. I have an acquaintance who spent 20 years as a navy helicopter pilot who keeps saying that China is willing to trade us city for city in a nuclear conflict. And now we have this Chinese general confirming that, yes, China is willing to do what Russia wouldn't: invoke MAD. Anyone seen Dr. Strangelove lately?

This story broke last week. I first heard about it sometime after midnight. The next morning, there was not a peep about it in my local paper. Something is rotten in the state of the Union.

This general was careful to maintain that he was not officially speaking on behalf of the tyrants of Beijing, and now the tyrants are now claiming that "Zhu's remarks were his 'personal views.'" At least, so says an unnamed foreign ministry official.

What reporting there is on this topic claims that there was a strong response from Washington.

Not strong enough. Here's what ought to have happened. The China's move to purchase an American energy company (Unocal) ought to have been forbidden within 24 hours of this statement. And the President ought to have put the Pacific Fleet on high alert (particularly our nuclear submarines) within 5 minutes of the statement. If all the analysts are correct, China is not ready for a war right now and would be forced to apologize profusely in the face of such a strong response. But this is not Reagan, this is Bush, and for all his tough talk, he has too soft a touch. Reagan talked softly, but carried a huge stick.

We could write our Congress-critters and tell them that we disapprove of Unocal in the face of blatant military threats made by high-ranking individuals within the Chinese military.
---------Chinese General Warns of Nuclear Conflict Over Taiwan
---------China Plays Down General's Nuclear Remarks

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 12:15 AM

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