US threats forced China to go nuclear — Expert

During the Korean war, in which China intervened on the side of invading North Korea when it was being pushed back, American commander, General Douglas MacArthur, wanted to use atomic bombs and (atomic) artillery to decimate Chinese forces, Cirincione says.

After driving Chinese out, if his advice had been taken, MacArthur would have laid down "fields of suitable radio-active materials" to keep them off the peninsula for centuries, he says.

Such threats led Chinese leaders to conclude in favour of developing their own nuclear weapons, he says.

After Chinese had developed nuclear weapons, the equations changed, Cirincione says.

Cirincione mentions a report by then US Ambassador Chas Freeman who, during a heated discussion over Chinese claims to Taiwan, quotes a Chinese general as saying, "You do not have the strategic leverage that you had in the 1950’s (during the Korean war) when you threatened nuclear strikes on us. You were able to do that because we could not hit back."

Countries like Japan which possess the capabilities to develop a nuclear arsenal will consider its nuclear options if they come to believe that the US and other nuclear weapon states no longer have any intention of pursuing "effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament", Cirincione warns.

Japan’s plutonium-based nuclear energy infrastructure has produced a large stockpile of plutonium and through plutonium reprocessing contracts with Britain and France, Japan acquired about 24.1 metric tonnes of reactor-grade plutonium as of 1997, he says.

Seven kilograms of reactor-grade plutonium are enough to build an explosive device of 20 kilotons, 5 kilotons more than the Hiroshima bomb.

Japan also has the capability to build intercontinental ballistic missiles, Cirincione says.

BRITISH DECISION A SETBACK: Meanwhile, the Pentagon has said that Britain’s decision to equip its Air Force with a European-made missile, rather than one made by US-based Raytheon Corp, was a setback for US efforts to encourage trans-Atlantic arms ventures.

“I don’t know whether I’d call it a slap in the face. It was certainly a disappointment," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said yesterday.

British Defence Secretary Geoffrey Hoon yesterday announced the decision to arm its Eurofighter jets with a new beyond-visual-range, air-to-air missile that is to be developed by the European Meteor consortium led by the Anglo-French group Matra BAe Dynamics.

Raytheon offered Britain an improved version of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).

"We think we offered a package that was cheaper for them, that involved British participation for jobs, and also that would have gotten a more capable missile into the force faster," Bacon said.

Hoon told the parliament that the choice in favour of the Meteor missile — and a decision to upgrade its heavy-lift air transport fleet with aircraft built by the Airbus consortium — was a show of commitment to the European defence industry.

Bacon said it was a missed opportunity for US-British arms industry cooperation.

"It’s certainly a setback in that we had offered the British an opportunity to work cooperatively with Raytheon, and to have many of the jobs in Britain with a joint project," Bacon said.