Why South Korea’s promises on THAAD and a US-Japan alliance are so important to China
Beijing can breathe a little easier as fears of a ‘mini Nato’ in Asia wane with Seoul’s latest defence assurances
When the announcement came last week it took some of the air out of a diplomatic and economic feud that had dragged on for more than a year and hit the bottom lines of South Korean companies doing business in China.
The row was triggered by South Korea’s decision to deploy a mobile US anti-missile network called THAAD – the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system. Seoul rolled out the sophisticated radar and interceptor missiles on a former golf course in September to fend off threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.
In response, China tightened the economic screws on its neighbour, boycotting South Korean entertainment products and banning Chinese tour groups from visiting the country.
US ‘moving forward’ with THAAD deployment in South Korea as North Korean crisis grows
But China’s biggest worry was that THAAD would move the US, South Korea and Japan one step closer to a Nato-like regional alliance, and eventually create a “mini Asian version of Nato” to counter China, according to retired Chinese army colonel Yue Gang.