China protests THAAD deployment
Print Edition
CHINA is “strongly dissatisfied” with US plans to deploy a missile defense system in South Korea, saying the move could destabilize the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea’s defense ministry announced the decision to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system yesterday.
“The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes to this,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said the deployment was not conducive to achieving denuclearization in the peninsula and maintaining peace and stability.
It said the move went against efforts made in calming regional tensions through dialogue and negotiation, and severely harmed the security interests of countries in the area, including China, as well as the “strategic balance” in the region.
The US and South Korea were urged to terminate the deployment, and “not to take actions which tend to complicate regional situation and harm China’s strategic security interests.”
Russia warned yesterday that the deployment would have “irreparable consequences.”
Its foreign ministry said in a statement: “The United States, supported by its partners, are continuing to build up the potential of the Asia-Pacific segment of the global anti-missile defense system, which undermines the established strategic balance in the region and beyond.”
Tensions have soared since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of missile launches that analysts said show North Korea is making progress toward being able to strike the US mainland.
The US and South Korea began talks on deploying the anti-missile system to the Korean Peninsula in February after North Korea fired a long-range rocket.
The deployment announcement came as North Korea warned that US sanctions against its leader were a “declaration of war.”
News of measures targeting Kim Jong Un came as North Korea marked 22 years since the death of its founding president Kim Il-Sung, grandfather of the current “Supreme Leader.”
On Wednesday, the US placed Kim on its sanctions blacklist for the first time, holding him directly responsible for a long list of human rights abuses.
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