Clinton vowed to ‘ring China with missile defence’ if North Korea not stopped, leaked emails say
Either control them or we’re going to have to defend against them, former secretary of state told Goldman Sachs audience in 2013, according to hacked documents
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said at a private speech three years ago the Chinese military was “the biggest supporters of a provocative North Korea” and that Washington had vowed to Beijing it would “ring China with missile defence” if Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme was not stopped, according to hacked emails.
“So China, come on. You either control them or we’re going to have to defend against them,” the former secretary of state was quoted as saying when addressing a Goldman Sachs conference in June 2013.
The comments were included in hacked emails belonging to her campaign manager John Podesta. Their release last week comes amid a row between China and South Korea over the deployment of the US-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile system.
Beijing has strongly protested against Washington and Seoul’s decision to deploy the system in South Korea, prompting China and Russia to announce additional missile defence drills.
an excerpt compilation of her paid speeches, Clinton said North Korean missiles could not only inflict damage on United States treaty allies, namely South Korea and Japan, but could also “theoretically” reach Hawaii and the US west coast.