Ralph Jennings
You hear a lot that China clings to its friendship with otherwise widely distrusted North Korea because it needs a secure, private buffer between its own heavily armed country and Asian neighbors aligned with rival superpower the United States.
This idea has come out of the academic symposium chambers into palpable reality with China’s stern opposition to plans by South Korea and the United States to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in response to weapons tests by the secretive Communist regime in Pyongyang.
Beijing is clearly mad about something.
Beijing is clearly mad about something.
Its state-controlled Global Times newspaper said in July after the U.S.-South Korean plan was announced that China “must review and readjust its Korean Peninsula strategies.”
And so it has: China is pressing tourists to avoid South Korea despite short flight times and cultural allure.
Korean pop concerts are being canceled in China, too.
“The Chinese government is likely to continue applying economic coercion and diplomatic pressure in efforts to influence South Korean domestic politics and reverse the decision,” says Leif-Eric Easley, assistant professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) shakes hands with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo (R) during their meeting at the headquarters of the Defense Ministry on February 3, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea.
“The Chinese government is likely to continue applying economic coercion and diplomatic pressure in efforts to influence South Korean domestic politics and reverse the decision,” says Leif-Eric Easley, assistant professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) shakes hands with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo (R) during their meeting at the headquarters of the Defense Ministry on February 3, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea.
South Korean and U.S. officials have told China the system would have nothing to do with them. THAAD would help South Korea stop any missiles from the north as part of a “layered” defense, says Joshua Pollack, editor of The Nonproliferation Review in the United States.
“A layered defense simply means that the defense gets additional shots at an attacking missile, starting when it's higher in the sky,” he says.
“THAAD would take the first shot.”
THAAD would be installed in the south of the host country to protect oil storage, nuclear plants and other infrastructure, Pollack adds.
THAAD would be installed in the south of the host country to protect oil storage, nuclear plants and other infrastructure, Pollack adds.
Washington already has Patriot missile batteries in South Korea as a secondary shield against any missiles from the north.
U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korea’s interim President Hwang Kyo-an are backing the defense system, which could be installed as early as May, along with of a lot of Korean citizens.
U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korea’s interim President Hwang Kyo-an are backing the defense system, which could be installed as early as May, along with of a lot of Korean citizens.
In February U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis visited Hwang on his first trip abroad and suggested they face the North Korea threat together.
South Korea has no major issue of its own with China.
Trump sought to get along with Beijing on Feb. 9 in a call with Xi Jinping.
Leaders in Beijing are afraid THAAD so nearby would see what’s going on militarily in China, and who knows what it might be hiding.
Leaders in Beijing are afraid THAAD so nearby would see what’s going on militarily in China, and who knows what it might be hiding.
That’s where North Korea comes in.
That country provides a fatty slice of land over which no Western country can see into China.
China is unlikely to protest consideration of the same missile defense system in Europe.
“Beijing sees the U.S. alliance structure in Asia as aimed at the encirclement and containment of China," Pollack says.
"From this point of view, any steps that might help to consolidate the U.S.-South Korean alliance over the long term, or help to counteract China's own ability to dissuade South Korea from acting against Chinese interests in the future, would be highly unwelcome.”
In more blunt terms, THAAD in South Korea would put China “under U.S. military surveillance,” Beijing’s state-run China Daily online said in a Feb. 14 commentary.
In more blunt terms, THAAD in South Korea would put China “under U.S. military surveillance,” Beijing’s state-run China Daily online said in a Feb. 14 commentary.
