A retired Chinese general recently revealed that his country might be planning a surprise missile attack on the United States. The public comment of Xu Guangyu came in response to WikiLeaks revelations that last year Washington had warned its allies beforehand of Chinas test of a missile interceptor.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a classified cable sent last January 9th, instructed American embassies in Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand to notify those countries of upcoming Chinese launches two days later. The cable included details of the launch sites for the interceptor and the target, the models of the missiles, the purpose of the test, and the test date.
Yesterday, Hong Kongs South China Morning Post carried comments from Xu, now at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, to the effect that American satellites would have detected activity at the launch sites but that some of the information in the cablesspecifically the types of missiles and the day of the testmust have come from a source on the ground. WikiLeakss release of this cable, revealing one or more American spies in Chinas strategic missile corps, is perhaps the websites most significant compromise of US security to date.
The Hong Kong paper noted that Xu said that if China could no longer keep secret its missile launches, it would not be able to launch a surprise attack on the US.
Is China really in the process of planning to destroy the American homeland with a preemptive barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles? Xus comment, of course, is not proof, but it does reveal that Chinese flag officers are thinking about doing so.
Unfortunately, Xus hostile sentiment fits within a worrisome trend. Especially since the beginning of last year, there has been a series of belligerent comments from Chinas generals, admirals, and colonels, some talking about war with the US in the near future. Last February, for instance, Colonel Meng Xianging said the Peoples Liberation Army would qualitatively upgrade its capabilities to force a showdown on US policy toward Taiwan within the decade when were strong enough for a hand-to-hand fight with the US.
Given the belicose statements coming from some of Chinas military brassalong with Chinas well-documented aggressive behavior in the South China Sea and other peripheral watersit is difficult to imagine how Western observers can deny Chinas intentions and the clashes that lie ahead. Thank you, General Xu.
Poster Comment:
Hillary and hObama seem to be pumping up a new cold war, this time with China. They've put another propagandist on the payroll, a Chinese general.