China Urges THAAD's Removal, Opposes 'Chaos or War' in Korea
Amid joint U.S.-South Korea war rehearsals held near the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea, China has once again reiterated its call for increased militarization on the peninsula, and called on the U.S. and South Korea to de-escalate and dismantle its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. RELATED: Trump Says 'All Options on Table' After North Korea Missile Launch “China stands opposed to any chaos or war on the Korean Peninsula. Enhancing military deployment on the peninsula will not help toward achieving the goal of denuclearization or regional stability,” the Chinese United Nations Ambassador, Liu Jieyi said on Wednesday. “The deployment of the THAAD system in Northeast Asia severely jeopardizes regional-strategic balance, undermining the strategic security interests of all regional countries, including China. It will further escalate tension on the peninsula, making the issue more complicated and intractable. China also urges the relevent parties to halt its deployment process and dismantle related facilities immediately,” Liu continued. This week, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea or DPRK, flew a test missile over Japan and into the ocean, which the United States and United Nations condemned as “outrageous.” The United States meanwhile, has been engaging in tests of its own. The National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. announced the successful tests flights of B61-12 gravity nuclear bombs, operating in a non-nuclear assembly. The tests were carried out to check the “aircraft's capability to deliver the weapon,” a NNSA statement said. RELATED: China to Tackle Urban Smog This Year with 'Zero Tolerance' Environmental Enforcement As part of the joint U.S.-South Korea war rehearsals being carried out on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea's military dropped eight live heavy bombs near the DPRK's border, in order to show what local media called “overwhelming force,” and to “display a strong capability to punish.” The bombs dropped were the massive 2,000 lb MK-84 non-nuclear bomb. The DPRK has demanded that the U.S. and South Korea halt its war games and withdraw all military installments from the peninsula. China has repeatedly proposed a “double freeze” in which the U.S. and South Korea halt military operations and remove THAAD in exchange for the DPRK's halt of missile tests. U.S. leadership has rejected the proposal, which is also supported by Russia. DPRK ambassador to the United Nations Han Tae-Song said that his government has a right to defend itself against U.S. hostilities. "Now that the U.S. has openly declared its hostile intention towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ... my country has every reason to respond with harsh countermeasures as an exercise of its right to self-defense."
August 30, 2017 at 07:13AM
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