Furious China sees U.S. THAAD missile defense system for South Korea as direct threat

U.S. military officials are trying to pacify a furious China in the wake of Washington’s plan to deploy a battery of advanced missile defense systems in South Korea, insisting to angry military leaders in Beijing that the weapons would be solely targeting ballistic missile threats from North Korea and not undercut China’s own military deterrent.

“If THAAD is deployed, it will sour [South Korea‘s] relations with China and Russia, trigger an arms race and damage trade,” the state-controlled China Daily newspaper wrote in an editorial Thursday. “It will make it difficult for the country to seek cooperation from China and Russia in denuclearizing the peninsula.”

Army Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces-Korea, met in Seoul on Thursday with Vice Adm. James D. Syring, U.S. Missile Defense Agency chief, to discuss the deployment. THAAD is expected to arrive in South Korea by next year.


Credit to Washington Times