BEIJING, July 15: A Chinese general has warned that China is ready to use nuclear weapons against the United States if Washington attacks his country over Taiwan, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

Zhu Chenghu, a top general of the People’s Liberation Army who said he was expressing his own views and did not anticipate a conflict with Washington, nevertheless said China would have no option but to go nuclear in the event of an attack.

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition onto the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” he told an official briefing for foreign journalists.

A spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry noted that the general had said he was not speaking on behalf of the government. A spokesman later said the ministry was looking into the matter.

The Chinese defence ministry declined to comment, saying the foreign ministry had organized the event at which the general spoke.

In Washington, where anxiety about economic and strategic challenges posed by China is widely voiced, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters the Chinese general had ‘talked about a hypothetical situation’ and declined further comment.

The Statec Department termed ‘irresponsible’ the threat by the Chinese general.

Spokesman Sean McCormack called the remarks ‘unfortunate’ and said he hoped they did not reflect the views of the Chinese government.

“I haven’t seen all the remarks but what I’ve seen of them, I’ll say that they’re irresponsible,” Mr McCormack told reporters.

Mr McCormack said the United States was no threat to China and the two countries had ‘probably the best US-China relationship we’ve seen in quite some time’.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has just visited Beijing and her deputy Robert Zoellick would be traveling there later this month to begin a strategic dialogue with the Chinese leadership.

“So we have, we believe, good, constructive relations with China,” Mr McCormack said.

“I think that, again, given the relationship of the US and China and the fact that the US is not a threat to China, that those remarks are certainly unfortunate.”

A senior State Department official said he was unaware of any contacts between the US embassy in Beijing and the Chinese government on the nuclear comments.

“But certainly the public expression of concern (by the United States) is important,” the official said.

China has vowed to bring Taiwan back into the fold. In March, China’s parliament passed an anti-secession law authorizing the use of ‘non-peaceful means’ to do so.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged China on Friday to resume dialogue with Taiwan before Beijing hosts the Olympics in 2008.

GLOBAL PLAYER: “This will also greatly advance China’s international standing and reputation as a global player with a particular responsibility for peace and security in East Asia,” Mr Barroso said during his first visit to China as commission president.