China maintaining dialogue with S. Korea to resolve THAAD issue

BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) — China’s foreign ministry said Thursday it has been engaged in talks with South Korea over Seoul’s decision to deploy a U.S. missile defense shield, adding its opposition to the decision remains unchanged.

China has been steadfast in its opposition to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, and its Foreign Minister Wang Yi reconfirmed the stance during a bilateral meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Tokyo on Wednesday, ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters during a regular press briefing.

The diplomats’ meeting was on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting of the top diplomats of South Korea, China and Japan on the same day.

Lu also said whether or not the two countries’ presidents will hold a summit talk during the Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Hangzhou, China next month has not been decided.

On the same day, China’s defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian also expressed opposition against the deployment, comparing it to “opening a Pandora’s box.”

THAAD is not only an issue between South Korea and the U.S. because it infringes upon the regional balance and China’s interest, he told reporters during a regular press briefing.

South Korea’s ties with China, its No. 1 trading partner, have frayed over Seoul’s decision to station a THAAD battery on its soil. This move has drawn strong objections from Beijing, which worries that the battery with its powerful radar will adversely affect the strategic balance in Northeast Asia.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se (L) and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi approach each other in Tokyo for a handshake ahead of a trilateral meeting that includes Japan on Aug. 24, 2016. Seoul-Beijing relations have become tense after South Korea decided to deploy a U.S. advanced THAAD antimissile system in the country.

One Comment

1. Younghyun Kim

   August 26, 2016 at 6:25 AM

   Needless to say, your korean peninsula and international society must remain steadfast to a nuke-free korean peninsula in which can be an example for the whole countries, whom insist it must posses a nuke weapon. It is no time to argue the rights and wrong about THAAD.

   This weak and uneducated korean worldling asks the whole countries to be convinced of the barbaric and the tyrannical military regime, North Korea’s sincerity over those bad guys’ absurd and flagrant atrocities against their same korean compatriots and international society, which already run rampant. If Kim Jongun and all his sycophants can turn over a new leaf and come back as a member of international community with South Korea, it itself can be frosting on the cake or an additional attraction. On top of it, your koreans’ patience has been spawning nothing but more serious provocations and their bad guys’ unpardonable atrocities against this world.

   What on earth do those same subhuman guys elate over those same unforgivable treatments? China is their undeniable ally. So, China’s commitment to demonstrate itself for safety and flexible foreign policy line on that region must be in charge of as a G2 nation. Sternly speaking, deploying THAAD is South Korea’s internal affairs never can no country interfere in a country’s internal affairs. And no one and no country can connive that same unwarranted interference.

   As we are aware, a nation’s national security-related grandeur of matter can never be turned itself round a country’s little finger. It will incur its diplomatic standoff and may cut its ties with other countries. Needless to say, we human beings and the whole countries must try to accomplish world peace and justice without demanding prerequisites. Good luck!

   2016. 08. 26. in Suwon, Seoul and at East Sea

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