be high. So I think it is much more advantageous for us to take the initiative to attack than to be beaten passively. This issue certainly needs to be considered urgently." Background Beijing has had atomic bombs since 1964 and has often stated ‘‘no first use’’ policy on nuclear weapons. Zhu is the first Chinese high-ranking military official in the past ten years to have said that China is likely to use nuclear weapons against the United States if the need arises. The explicitness of his remarks has gone beyond that of similar remarks made by Xiong Guangkai during the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1996. Zhu is one of China's better-known military analysts. During the war in Kosovo in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Zhang Zhaozhong, Peng Guangqian, Luo Yuan, and Zhu often publicly discussed and analyzed the war situation at China's two major military staff colleges – the NDU and the Academy of Military Sciences. The four men were also regarded in the Western world as Chinese high-ranking military officials who had taken on a hawkish shade. See also China and weapons of mass destruction References Chen You-wei, "China-US Nuclear Confrontation Not A Policy, But Only A Hypothesis", Hsin Pao, July 24, 2005 External links Chinese General Threatens Use of A-Bombs if U.S. Intrudes China could use nuclear weapons to deter US from interfering in Taiwan 1952 births Living people People's Liberation Army generals from Anhui People from Ma'anshan