China slams US, South Korea missile defense deployment
July 8, 2016, 6:09 am

South Korean protesters hold placards during a rally against the deployment of the advanced U.S. missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula, called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, April 1, 2015 [Xinhua]

The deployment “doesn’t help achieve the objective of denuclearization in the peninsula, doesn’t benefit maintaining peace and stability in the peninsula. It’s going toward the opposite direction of solving the problem via dialogue and negotiation,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The selection of the location for the system could come “within weeks”.

“South Korea and the United States made an alliance decision to deploy THAAD to USFK as a defensive measure to ensure the security of the South and its people, and to protect alliance military forces from North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile threats,” the joint US-South Korea statement said.

China, a neighboring country of the Korean Peninsula and a major stakeholder in regional stability, also maintains that the Korean Peninsula denuclearization should be achieved via dialogue, not war, and that China’s national security interests should be guaranteed, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said earlier this year.

Seoul has agreed to the US move after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime conducted a nuclear test in January and then followed it up with several ballistic missile tests in violation of UN resolutions.

North Korea has hit back the US over sanctions terming it as a “declaration of war.”

North Korea says it is boosting its defensive capabilities in the face of threats from its southern neighbor and the US.

Russia has also expressed concern about the potential deployment of THAAD, saying it could trigger an arms race in Northeast Asia.

During a press conference with his Russian counterpart in Beijing in April, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that both countries considered the US move far exceeding relevant actual defense needs.

TBP and Agencies