Chinese general: American foreign policy is a lot like 'erectile dysfunction'

Chinese general: American foreign policy is a lot like &#039;erectile dysfunction&#039;

(Image credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

If you have a military campaign lasting longer than several months, consult a doctor immediately. That's not quite what Maj. Gen Zhu Chenghu, dean of the National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army, meant when he called out the United States' aggressive foreign policy. Yet his "erectile dysfunction" metaphor, as noted by The Wall Street Journal, certainly seemed to suggest as much.

Pushing back against Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's recent remarks about China's "destabilizing" actions in the region, Zhu over the weekend accused the U.S. of having its own penchant for meddlesome foreign intervention. "We can see from the situation in Ukraine this kind of ED," he said, meaning Extended Deployment, "has become the male type of ED problem — erectile dysfunction."

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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.