Questions Rise over China’s Opposition to THAAD

The Korea Herald

23 February 2016

China’s strenuous opposition to the possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense asset to South Korea is triggering questions over whether the stated rationale for its objections can be justified in light of its own military buildup, some experts said Tuesday.

Since the talk of stationing the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system here emerged in 2014, Beijing has maintained, “No country shall undermine other countries’ security interests while pursuing its own.”

But China has recently installed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island, part of the contested Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, and reportedly run long-range radar facilities close to the peninsula that can track military targets in Korea. These moves are seen by many as hurting the security interests of China’s neighbors, including South Korea.

… Michael Raska, assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said that China has already been escalating military tensions in the region through a set of steps to bolster its own security.

“While China argues that the U.S.’ THAAD system in South Korea would degrade its deterrent capabilities, China is also responsible for triggering new vulnerabilities that increase security dilemmas in the South China Sea,” he said.

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