Send them a thank you card.
What a great idea! Then maybe they can do NY? Just give me 24 hours advanced notice so I can move...
Posted on 12/10/2002 8:39:22 PM PST by hchutch
December 11, 2002
Chinese general told threat against U.S. unacceptable
By Bill Gertz- THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The White House told a visiting Chinese general yesterday that comments he made in 1995 suggesting China would use nuclear weapons against Los Angeles were unacceptable.
The discussion came during a meeting between Chinese Lt. Gen. Xiong Guankai, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, and White House National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
The meeting was part of the appeal by the Bush administration to warn China against making further nuclear threats and to make clear to Gen. Xiong that China should not miscalculate in thinking it could win an arms race with Taiwan, or that it could coerce the island into reunification.
An additional message for the general was that Chinese help in getting North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program is important to U.S.-Chinese relations.
Gen. Xiong is in Washington with a delegation of Chinese officials who met Monday at the Pentagon with defense officials as part of a strategic dialogue that had been put on hold after last year's aerial collision between a Chinese jet and U.S. EP-3E spy plane.
Miss Rice "chose to meet with Gen. Xiong to underscore our view of international security and particularly the issue of Taiwan," a senior administration official said of the meeting.
Other administration officials said plans for the meeting sparked a dispute among officials on the National Security Council staff who opposed the meeting because it would be viewed as rewarding a foreign general who threatened to attack the United States.
Gen. Xiong told former defense official Charles Freeman in 1995 that the United States would not come to Taiwan's defense in any conflict with China because it "cared more about Los Angeles than Taipei," the Taiwanese capital.
The remark was reported to the White House at the time as a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons against the United States.
Miss Rice and two aides met with Gen. Xiong and three other Chinese military officials in her office at the White House West Wing.
"She stressed that the United States does not support Taiwan independence but that we have the means and will to meet our commitments to Taipei," the senior official said.
Miss Rice also told Gen. Xiong that the administration is committed to its obligations under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which calls for the United States to meet Taiwan's defensive needs.
The Bush administration announced last year it was selling guided missile destroyers and submarines to Taiwan to bolster its forces against China's military buildup, especially of short-range missiles.
Miss Rice also said that "any differences must be resolved peacefully and without resort to force or coercion," the official said.
She said "there is no justification for the continued buildup of Chinese missiles along the Taiwan Strait," the official said, noting that "it is the Chinese buildup of missiles and other forces that increases tensions in the region."
"And we believe that enhancing peace and stability in the region should be begun with the end, and then the reversal of this buildup," the official said.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin suggested to President Bush in Crawford, Texas, in October that China would be willing to reduce the missile deployments opposite Taiwan if the United States curbed arms sales to Taiwan.
U.S. officials said the offer was an informal suggestion rather than a serious proposal.
And its Gertz article no less!!!
Hey 'moron' Many Freepers are LA based, are they tumors? I have three sisters who live there and would put that tumor size b-ball where da sun don't sun for ya.
LA is the worst city in the US - that's saying something.That would be Detroit or Baltimore, actually. Even so, they may be nasty disgusting slums but they are our nasty disgusting slums. Besides, fallout travels.
-Eric
N Korea hopefully!!!
Let's hope China doesn't respond, "Hey, I gots to know."
The Bush Administration's National Security Advisor, when this guy came in, promptly told him when they complained about our support for Taiwan, "Yob tvoyu maht, Xiong. We're going to have you pass something on like you had Charles Freeman pass something on to us. We didn't like your threat to nuke L.A. Coering Taiwan is unacceptable. Furthermore, we are putting you on notice that we expect your help in dealing with North Korea."
N. Korean Scuds seized on ship in Arabian Sea- Navy force boards freighter, secures 12 missiles headed for Middle East
WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – U.S. forces today boarded a North Korean freighter in the North Arabian Sea loaded with 12 short- to medium-range missiles along with other missile parts, U.S. officials announced.
U.S. intelligence had tracked the North Korean-flagged ship, the So San, since it left the North Korean port of Nampo about three weeks ago, officials said. It was first stopped and boarded yesterday by a Spanish navy warship. The crew on the freighter had painted over the North Korean flag on its side once the ship entered the Arabian Sea.
The intended destination of the missiles is unknown. The ship's manifest declared that it was carrying cement mix to an undisclosed location. However, when U.S. and allied naval forces inspected it, they found several crates containing North Korean Scud missiles. A U.S. Navy explosives team boarded the ship to secure the missiles. U.S. officials said the 12 Scud missiles were hidden beneath concrete.
U.S. officials said the false manifest and the crew's refusal to reveal the ship's destination was sufficient reason to seize the ship.
"The ship was stopped on Monday by Spanish authorities, who stopped it in the Arabian Sea about 600 miles from the Horn of Africa," an official told Reuters news agency. "It was believed to be bound for Yemen."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at a news conference two weeks ago that North Korea was the world's "single biggest proliferator" of ballistic missiles and a "danger to the world."
"This is an issue of concern," Bush administration spokesman Sean McCormack told the Associated Press. "We are working with other governments to figure out the next step."
McCormack said the immediate tasks were to deal with the crew, identified as from North Korea, and to secure the ship.
Iraq used Scuds to attack Israel during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War. They are believed to be capable of carrying biological warfare agents.
There is no evidence that North Korea has sold Scuds to Iraq recently, though Iraqi Scuds are based on an original design by North Korea. North Korea is known to have sold Scud missiles to Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Libya and Yemen.
Officials said the shipment did not appear to be headed for Iraq. However, a senior administration official told the Associated Press that although the ship was headed for Yemen, it was unclear whether it and the missiles on board had another destination beyond that.
Yemen has been identified by the United States as a nation that has harbored terrorists, although its government has been an ally of the United States in the war against global terrorism. Yemen's port of Aden was the site of the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole by terrorists, which killed 17 sailors.
Yemeni officials have claimed that their past purchases of Scud missiles for self-defense purposes were perfectly legal. U.S. officials said that the Scuds would be within range of U.S. troops stationed in Djibouti should any of the missiles fall into the wrong hands.
Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have worsened in recent weeks, as North Korea acknowledged it has an ongoing uranium enrichment program, in violation of a 1994 agreement with a coalition of countries, including the United States. Under that agreement, the Korean Economic Development Organization, funded by the United States, South Korea, Japan and the EU, was building a light-water nuclear reactor for North Korea and providing fuel oil, in exchange for a vow that Pyongyang would halt its own nuclear programs.
President Bush has called North Korea part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and Iran
Send them a thank you card.
What a great idea! Then maybe they can do NY? Just give me 24 hours advanced notice so I can move...
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