It may be some dumb statements from Sue Mi Terry. But the current series of US governments have a pattern of incrementally increasing the nuclear stakes with its adversaries. In the last NATO summit, they have decided to deploy long-ranged US missiles, likely nuclear tipped in Germany by 2026.
Therefore, it is not out of this world to presume that they're gonna replicate that same nonsense in East Asia. After all, Abe (may he rot in hell) had expressed a keen desire to for Japan to receive US nuclear weapons sharing. If the US is already planning to do it Europe, despite the might of the Russian nuclear arsenal, why would it not do the same against China, who has a comparatively weaker nuclear arsenal?