Beijing seeks to block deployment of US THAAD system to S Korea

Staff Reporter 2015-03-12 15:53 (GMT+8)

South Korea's president, Park Geun-hye, meets President Xi Jinping during her visit to Beijing on Nov. 10, 2014. (Photo/CNS)

China is working hard to prevent the deployment in South Korea of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense also known as THAAD, a highly effective anti-missile system to intercept North Korean and Chinese missiles, Bill Gertz, senior editor of the Washington Free Beacon, wrote on March 9.

China's president, Xi Jinping, is understood to have offered South Korea more trade and business opportunities in return for the Park Geun-hye administration relinquishing the idea of allowing the US to deploy the THAAD system to the Korean peninsula. In addition, Beijing is pressuring the Park administration to allow Chinese telecom equipment supplier Huawei to bid for telecom infrastructure projects in South Korea. Huawei has been blocked from securing contracts in the United States over fears that its network equipment could be used for espionage, fears the company says are unfounded.

Kim Min-seok, spokesperson for the South Korean defense ministry, openly declared that the nation has no plan to acquire the THAAD system from the United States during a press conference held on March 9. "Basically, the system would be good to better defend the country from missiles from North Korea, but we will make a judgment by putting the national interest as our top priority," Kim was quoted as saying by the Sputnik News based in Moscow. "We will establish an MD system of our own against North Korea's ballistic missiles by developing L-SAM and M-SAM surface-to-air missiles," Kim said.

China's effort to block THAAD are based on fears that the defense radar and interceptors could be used against some of the thousands of Chinese ballistic missiles that form the backbone of China's military strike capabilities, an unnamed official told Gertz. It could be used to intercept the DF-21D anti-ship missile which poses a potential threat to US aircraft carriers.

The official said South Korea can be used by China to weaken the US-Japan-South Korea collective defense that has maintained peace and stability in East Asia since the 1950s. Ultimately, the anti-missile defense campaign will become key part of a Beijing's strategy to undermine the US military in the region, the source said.

Gertz said the US military is concerned about allowing Huawei into the communications networks of its allies, as it believes this could potentially increase vulnerability to cyberattacks in a crisis involving North Korea.

Gertz said South Korean investment in China has grown sharply over the past decade. From January to September 2014, South Korea invested more than US$3.2 billion in China, according to a Wall Street Journal report. China also attracted large numbers of South Korean manufacturers and sent 25% of its US$560 billion in total exports to China in 2013.