Beijing hopes Seoul acts on THAAD pledge

Beijing attaches great importance to Seoul’s latest positions regarding anti-missile issues, and it expects Seoul to translate its fresh pledges into action, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

Hua made the comment after Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Kang Kyungwha said during a parliamentary audit on Monday in Seoul that the ROK is “not considering any” additional deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system, Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency reported.

Ties between China and the ROK plunged to a record low after a THAAD battery, which includes six missile launchers, was installed in the southeastern ROK town of Seongju.

Kang also stressed that the country won’t participate in the US-led missile defense network, adding that trilateral US-Japan-ROK security cooperation would not extend to a trilateral military alliance, Xinhua News Agency reported.

In response, Hua, the spokeswoman, said at a regular news conference in Beijing on Monday that China attaches great importance to the three points made by the ROK minister, and it has consistently opposed the deployment of the US THAAD system in the ROK.

It is hoped the ROK fulfills the commitments it made, properly tackles relevant issues and pushes China-ROK ties back on the track of stable and healthy development at an early date, Hua said.

The deployment of THAAD has angered Beijing as it could technically cover part of China.

When exchanging congratulatory messages with his ROK counterpart Moon Jaein in August about the 25th anniversary of the countries forging diplomatic ties, President Xi Jinping urged the ROK to “take constructive actions to properly tackle the relevant sensitive issue”.

When Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Kang in New York in September, he called on the ROK to handle this issue in a swift and proper manner so as to remove a stumbling block in bilateral relations.