China, Russia rap US missile plans
Print Edition
DENOUNCING outside interference in the South China Sea and Korean Peninsula, China and Russia yesterday rapped the United States’ plans to put a missile defense system in South Korea as they seek to counter the influence of Washington, particularly in Asia.
Following talks in Beijing, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his visiting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov expressed opposition to the US deployment of an anti-missile system on the Korean Peninsula, and said that non-claimants should not take sides in the dispute over maritime territorial claims.
Despite endorsing United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea over its missile launches and nuclear tests, the two strongly criticized the proposed US deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system.
“Relevant countries shouldn’t use Pyongyang’s acts as a pretext to increase their military presence on the Korean Peninsula,” Lavrov told a joint news conference. “We believe the possible deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system won’t resolve this problem.”
Both Russia and China see the deployment as exceeding what is necessary to defend against a North Korean threat and would “directly affect strategic security of Russia and China,” Wang said.
That could “add fuel to the fire of an already tense situation and even possibly wreck the regional strategic balance,” he added.
The two foreign ministers called for efforts to restart long-stalled six-nation talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear programs.
Their meeting came amid renewed tension on the Korean Peninsula, with South Korean officials saying Pyongyang attempted unsuccessfully to test-fire two suspected powerful intermediate-range missiles on Thursday.
On the South China Sea, Lavrov said outside parties shouldn’t interfere, a reference to the US, which has challenged China’s claims.
Wang said it was up to the countries involved to find a resolution through talks.
“International society, particularly countries from outside the South China Sea, should play a constructive function in maintaining peace and stability and not contribute to the situation becoming more chaotic,” he said.
While the US has said it takes no position on the sovereignty claims, it has worked to shore up the military capabilities of the Philippines. It also has called on China to end its island-building projects and the US Navy has repeatedly sailed and flown ships and planes nearby those structures, drawing sharp responses from the Chinese Navy.
Wang and Lavrov both hailed two decades of warming ties between Moscow and Beijing.
Russia has become a leading supplier of imported high-tech weaponry and resources such as oil and gas, while China is a major source of capital investment for projects in Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China in June.
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