China warns US and South Korea it will react to missile deployment
Print Edition
CHINA said yesterday it would resolutely defend its security interests as the United States began deploying the THAAD missile-defense system in South Korea that Beijing fears will undermine its own military capabilities.
“We are firmly opposed to the deployment of THAAD in the Republic of Korea by the US and the ROK,” said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. “China will resolutely take necessary measures to defend our own security interests. All consequences entailed from this will be borne by the US and the ROK.”
The US Pacific Command said on Monday that its military had begun deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system to South Korea, which it claims is aimed at defending the US ally from a North Korean attack.
Geng did not specify what measures China would take. “We strongly urge relevant parties to stop the deployment and not to travel down that wrong path,” he said.
The plans to deploy THAAD have angered not only North Korea and China, but also Russia. All three see the system’s powerful radars as a security threat. Washington and Seoul say the system is “defensive” and not meant to be a threat to Beijing or Moscow.
The US military said THAAD could only intercept and destroy short and medium range ballistic missiles during the last part of their flights.
An official from South Korea’s defense ministry, who requested anonymity, said equipment that had arrived in South Korea included launchers, but didn’t confirm how many.
South Korea’s media speculate that the THAAD deployment could be completed by as early as April. The official said that the plan was to have the system operational as soon as possible.
On Monday, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles in an apparent protest against US-South Korean military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal. The missiles flew about 1,000 kilometers.
North Korea’s state media yesterday said leader Kim Jong Un had supervised a ballistic rocket launching drill, a likely reference to the four launches on Monday. Involved in the drills were artillery units tasked with striking “US imperialist aggressor forces in Japan,” according to the Korean Central News Agency.
Kim “ordered the KPA (Korean People’s Army) Strategic Force to keep highly alert as required by the grim situation in which an actual war may break out anytime,” a KCNA dispatch said.
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said that the missiles fired by North Korea were believed to be “improved versions” of Scud missiles. South Korean experts say North Korea’s missiles are capable of hitting Japan, including US military bases in Okinawa.
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