Strange General in China

I've been reading in the news about how China, err, one of their generals...General Zhu Chenghu, has said thhe following:

>>>“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Zhu Chenghu.

Now c'mon!!! Why would he say that?! No one in the USA ever talks about China having to be dealt with regarding Taiwan...it's the farthest thing from anyone's mind! Jeez, we're fighting terrorists, and this guy comes out of nowhere and makes a threat. It's just crazy talk....who does that kind of stuff? In the old Cold War days no one did that...you just kept making missles and you knew you weren't going to pull the trigger!

Then he says:

>>>>“We . . . will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds . . . of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”

Earth to Zhu!!! Come in Zhu!!! IF you were to launch....DON'T YA JUST THINK THE USA MIGHT LAUNCH BACK RIGHT AT YA?! SUPER-DUH!

Anyway...this guy is not cleared to talk smack like this....he's just an idiot...it's just baffling that anyone would say something like this...it's just so crazy.

Full story here:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/28cfe55a-f4a7-11d9-9dd1-00000e2511c8.html