China and South Korea clashed on Thursday over a U.S. missile defense shield, threatening to undermine the new government’s efforts in Seoul to overcome longstanding differences over security.
The disagreement over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system installed in South Korea arose after an apparently smooth first visit by the South Korean foreign minister to China this week.
China, claiming the powerful THAAD radar could spy on its airspace, has restricted trade and cultural imports after Seoul announced its deployment in 2016, causing a major setback in relations.
A senior official in South Korea’s presidential office told reporters on Thursday that THAAD is a means of self-defense and can never be subject to negotiations, after China demanded that South Korea no longer deploy batteries and limit the use of the batteries. existing.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, seeing the system as critical to countering North Korean missiles, vowed to abandon previous administration pledges not to increase THAAD deployments and not to participate in a US-led global missile shield. or create a trilateral military alliance also involving Japan.
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, meeting on Tuesday, explored ways to reopen denuclearization talks with North Korea and resume cultural exports such as music and films. K-pop, for China.
A spokesperson for Wang said on Wednesday that the two “agreed to take each other’s legitimate concerns seriously and continue to prudently handle and properly manage this issue to ensure it does not become an obstacle to solid growth.” and constant in bilateral relations”.
The Chinese spokesperson said in a briefing that the deployment of THAAD in South Korea “undermines China’s strategic security interest.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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