China slams US report on Taiwan
The report spoke of "high value targets" like the Three Gorges dam
A Chinese general has criticised a US Pentagon report that speculated on China and Taiwan's military balance.
The report, issued last month, said Taiwan's leaders had suggested adding to their offensive arsenal as a way to deter Chinese attack.
But Lt Gen Liu Yuan said such ideas would cause war not prevent it.
Gen Liu dismissed a suggestion Taiwan could target the Three Gorges dam, saying the island's conventional missiles were not powerful enough.
The row was triggered by the Pentagon's annual statement to the US Congress, released in May.
In it, the Pentagon said Taiwan's "political and military leaders" had recently suggesting acquiring weapons capable of striking against China as a way to deter Chinese attack.
China has been rapidly building up its missile capability and analysts say the balance of power across the Taiwan Strait is shifting in Beijing's favour.
"Since Taipei cannot match Beijing's ability to field offensive systems, proponents of strikes against the mainland apparently hope that merely presenting credible threats to China's urban population or high-value targets, such as the Three Gorges Dam, will deter Chinese military coercion," the report said.
The Three Gorges dam will not collapse and cannot be destroyed
Lt Gen Liu Yuan
Lt Gen Liu, the son of former President Liu Shaoqi, replied to the Pentagon's comments in a front page editorial in the China Youth Daily newspaper published on Wednesday.
"Some people who say they support democracy, wave the flag of human rights and shout about fighting terrorism are actually a bunch of provocateurs, inciting nationalism and purposely and shamelessly provoking revenge without regard to consequences," he said.
"It is very clear they are whores, masquerading as gentleman, and are willing to go farther than Bin Laden," he said, referring to the head of the terrorist group al-Qaeda.
Three Gorges
China regularly criticises the US for its handling of Taiwan, which Beijing sees as part of its territory.
China's leaders are especially incensed by Washington's continued weapons sales to Taiwan.
But Lt Gen Liu's comments were unusually frank, reflecting mounting sensitivities over the issue, and over the Three Gorges dam.
China has huge hopes for the project, the world's largest dam and flood control project, which Beijing hopes will help solve China's energy problems when it is completed in 2009.
"The Three Gorges Dam will not collapse and cannot be destroyed," Lt Gen Liu said. "To begin with, Taiwan does not have nuclear weapons."
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said last week that the Pentagon report was "Cold War mentality harbouring evil intentions".
The latest flare-up comes as another report from the US Congress, released on Tuesday, accused China of passing nuclear technology to Iran in exchange for oil.
