THAAD vs. Chinese aggressions

The US and Japan successfully conducted the test of their jointly developed missile interceptor on 3 February.
By Vasudevan Sridharan

A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test.

China is rattled by the recent test of the missile interceptor system jointly developed by the US and Japan. 

According to an editorial published by the Global Times – the state-run mouthpiece of the communist party that sharply voices the views of Beijing when it comes to crucial geopolitical affairs – the latest test was asserted as Washington's "ambitious global missile defence system".
The US and Japan successfully conducted the test of Standard Missile-3 Block IIA, an interceptor jointly developed by both the militaries, capable of shooting down medium-range ballistic missiles, on Friday (3 February). 

The test took place off the Hawaiian island of Kauai with the Aegis-equipped destroyer USS John Paul.
Vice Admiral Jim Syring, the chief of US Missile Defence Agency (MDA), said in a statement: "Today's test demonstrates a critical milestone in the cooperative development of the SM-3 Block IIA missile. The missile, developed jointly by a Japanese and US government and industry team, is vitally important to both our nations and will ultimately improve our ability to defend against increasing ballistic missile threats around the world."
Responding to the latest test, the Chinese editorial read: "Once the upgrade and deployment of the SM-3 system is completed, and Thaad is launched in Northeast Asia, China will face more military threat," also referring to the proposed US's deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (Thaad) in South Korea.
It further added: "The US global missile defence system is ultimately targeted at the nuclear deterrent capability of China and Russia, aiming to politically coerce them. Strategic nuclear weapons are unlikely to be put to use in normal condition, and this means an anti-missile system can hardly conduct interception. A duel would bring disaster to all mankind."

Axis of Evil

China is resolutely standing in the way of subduing North Korea
By Amanda Macias 

Xi Jinping has obstinately ignored and thwarted international efforts to confront and defuse North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the world, led by the US and its Asian allies, has tried to confront and defuse North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the Hermit Kingdom's closest ally and the region's most powerful nation has ignored and thwarted international efforts.
"China is part of the problem rather than part of the solution to the North Korean nuclear problem," Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow of Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, told Business Insider.
"Chinese have acted like North Korea's lawyer at the UN Security Council by obstructing more robust international sanctions, denying evidence of North Korean provocations, watering down stronger UN resolutions, and insisting on loopholes," Klingner added.
"China is the reason sanctions against North Korea haven't had much of an effect," Rebeccah Heinrichs, a fellow at the Hudson Institute specializing in nuclear deterrence and missile defense, told Business Insider.
While Pyongyang has already been slammed with heavy sanctions, Klingner explains that the US can use "secondary sanctions to wean Chinese banks and businesses away from economically engaging with North Korea."
"US legal authorities and the centrality of the US dollar to the international financial system gives Washington tremendous leverage. The vast majority of all international financial transactions, including North Korea's, are denominated in dollars and thus must pass through a US Treasury Department-regulated bank in the United States," Klingner told Business Insider.
Meanwhile, the Hermit Kingdom's brazen missile tests continue.

A South Korean soldier watches a TV broadcasting a news report on Seismic activity produced by a suspected North Korean nuclear test, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, September 9, 2016.
So far this year, Pyongyang has conducted seven Musudan missile tests. 

The Musudun is speculated to have a range of approximately 1,500 to 2,400 miles, making it capable of targeting military installations in South Korea, Japan, and Guam, according to estimates from the Missile Defense Project.
All Musudan launches except the sixth one on June 22 were considered to be failures.
However, despite a string of unsuccessful missile tests, experts argue that several of Pyongyang's missile programs are closer than ever for deployment. 

'They will get it right sooner or later, so we'd better be ready'
North Korean leader Kim Jung Un in an undated photo released by KCNA.

On October 14, at approximately 10:33 p.m. CDT, the US military detected a unsuccessful North Korean missile test near the northwestern city of Kusŏng.
While the launch of the presumed Musudun intermediate-range ballistic missile failed immediately, "it signals their continued resolve to get this right," Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider.
"They will get it right sooner or later, so we'd better be ready," Karako added.
Similarly, Heinrichs told Business Insider that North Korean "technology is steadily improving despite intermittent failed tests."
"The main take-away here is not that they are still having problems, the main take-away is that they are absolutely committed to achieving a credible nuclear missile force," Rebeccah Heinrichs, a fellow at the Hudson Institute specializing in nuclear deterrence and missile defense, told Business Insider.
What's more, China is opposed to the bilateral decision between the US and South Korea to deploy America's most advanced missile defense system to the Korean Peninsula.

Mad about THAAD

In order to counter North Korean threats and further defend the region, the US agreed to equip South Korea with a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, America's most advanced and highly mobile missile defense system.

And while negotiations to deploy THAAD to the region have been ongoing since South Korean President Park Geun-hye's October 2015 visit to the White House, North Korea's fourth nuclear bomb test on January 6 and long-range rocket launch on February 7 proved to be catalysts for the deployment.
China argues that since Washington agreed to equip Seoul with the unique missile-defense system, the North's missile tests have expanded and are poised to increase.
Heritage Foundation/Amanda Macias/Business Insider

"They've [China] aided and abetted North Korea for long enough that they have no one to blame but themselves for the missile defenses and other deployments to come," Karako told Business Insider.
And while THAAD's deployment has China peeved, Heinrichs adds that a layered ballistic missile defense system between the US, South Korea, and Japan will "provide a deterrent verse North Korea and will be help absorb an initial missile attack, should deterrence fail."
"Patriot is already deployed to South Korea and it handles the smaller, short-range missiles. THAAD, once deployed, would complement Patriot by providing an upper tier defense," Heinrichs said.
As of now, a THAAD battery is slated to be operational in South Korea by the end of 2017; however, Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said the system would be deployed "as soon as possible," Reuters reports.