A Chinese general said in a regional conference during the weekend that U.S. foreign policy suffers from a case of erectile dysfunction. 

Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, professor at the National Defense University, made no qualms of making public pronouncements about how he feels about U.S. foreign policy in Southeast Asia and the rest of the east. 

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During an interview with Phoenix TV, a Hong Kong-based Chinese language TV network covering the Shangri-la Dialogue, he said that in case China finds itself engaging its Southeast Asian neighbors in direct conflict, the U.S. is an unlikely ally that can support China's neighbors. 

Zhu said the U.S. influence and power has been in the decline and needs its allies in Asia to contain the seemingly unstoppable development of China. 

"[But] whether it [U.S.] it will get involved or use military intervention once there is a territorial dispute involving China and its neighbors, that is another issue," Zhu said. 

According to Zhu, all this depended on how the U.S. will project its power to police the international community, while citing the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 

"We can see from the situation in Ukraine this kind of ED - an abbreviation for 'extended deployment in military parlance - has become the male type of ED (erectile dysfunction) problem," Zhu said. 

General Zhu is one among the several Chinese military officials present at the Shangri-La Dialogue who reacted negatively to Chuck Hagel, U.S. Defense Secretary. In his speech accused China for destabilizing the status quo of the Southeast Asia when China took aggressive actions in the South China Sea. 

Zhu attracts controversy wherever he goes. Sometime in 2005, he said that China would not think twice to engage Taiwan using nuclear weapons in the event that a conflict arises between the two. The U.S. accused Zhu's remarks of being irresponsible to which the Chinese foreign ministry backed down. 

China has been strong in its stance regarding maritime claims surrounding the South China Sea. Beijing's actions resulted in disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam. 

China's oil drilling activities off the coast of Vietnam led to anti-Chinese rioting last month with Chinese and Taiwanese factories burned to the ground by Vietnamese citizens. A few days later, Chinese vessels surrounded a Vietnamese fishing boat, crashed into it and sunk it into the ocean. 

TagsShangri-La Dialogue, Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, US-China relations, Foreign Policy