Way to go! Feith & Rice stand up to Chinese threats to invade Taiwan, nuke Los Angeles

The Bush administration broke with longstanding policy this week and rebuked China for having threatened the United States with nuclear missile attack.

Chinese Lt. Gen. Xiong Guankai, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, had been unwelcome in the US since his 1995 threat that Beijing would destroy Los Angeles with nuclear missiles if the US stood by its commitments to Taiwan defend itself.

Xiong has been in Washington desperately trying to get himself photographed with US national security leaders in a bid to re-legitimize himself. No senior official would see him until Under Secretrary of Defense Douglas J. Feith received him – only to dress him down for China’s continued weapons proliferation and the missile buildup against Taiwan. It was the first senior US meeting with the Chinese military since the May 2001 incident in which the PRC forced down a US Navy intelligence plane over international waters and imprisoned the crew.

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice decided to meet with Xiong and his group to reiterate Feith’s strong message. She warned 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.”