[On Thursday, South Korea and the United States began talks in Seoul to finalize details of the deployment of the so-called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System, or Thaad, according to the South’s Foreign Ministry. Both countries say the system’s purpose is to defend the South against North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear threat, but China has objected strongly to the system, which it sees as an American attempt to encircle it.]
By
Jane Perlez and Choe Sang-Hun
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Police officers and
soldiers in South Korea on Wednesday guarding the site where
an American missile
defense system is set to be deployed.
Credit Kim
Joon-beom/Yonhap, via Reuters
|
BEIJING — The Chinese government is
ratcheting up pressure on South Korea over its plans to deploy an American
missile defense system, with the state-controlled news media urging the public
to boycott South Korean retail products and threatening diplomatic and even
military repercussions.
China’s latest pronouncements follow months
of not-so-subtle punitive measures that have already taken a toll on the South
Korean economy, including an unofficial ban on Korean television shows and pop
stars. The campaign risks a backlash in South Korea even as Beijing’s relations
with North Korea have also grown strained — a sign of how recent advances in
the North’s nuclear program have put China in a bind and are upsetting the
regional security balance.
On Thursday, South Korea and the United States
began talks in Seoul to finalize details of the deployment of the so-called
Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System, or Thaad, according to the South’s
Foreign Ministry. Both countries say the system’s purpose is to defend the
South against North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear threat, but China has
objected strongly to the system, which it sees as an American attempt to
encircle it.
No date has been set for the system’s
deployment, but the Pentagon said on Wednesday that Defense Secretary Jim
Mattis wanted it in place “as soon as feasible.” Military experts said the
United States could use C-17 transport aircraft to quickly move the system’s
truck-mounted launchers, interceptors, radar, fire control units and support
equipment to South Korea.
China responded with anger when South Korea
agreed in July to accept the Thaad system, and it has made its displeasure
known as plans have moved toward the final stages in recent days.
An outspoken Chinese general, Luo Yuan, now
retired, recommended a tough series of responses in an article on Thursday,
going so far as to suggest a military strike against the missile system. “We
could conduct a surgical hard-kill operation that would destroy the target,
paralyzing it and making it unable to hit back,” General Luo wrote in the
Global Times, a state-run newspaper that often features strident, nationalist
views.
“Since the United States, Japan and South
Korea choose not to respect China’s major security concerns, China does not
need to be a gentleman on everything,” the general wrote. “We must not
undermine our own security interests while respecting the security interests of
others.”
People’s Daily, the Communist Party newspaper
that is often considered the official voice of the leadership, said in its
international edition this week that China should consider a “de facto”
severance of diplomatic ties with South Korea.
It said in a commentary that China should
take “political and military measures” against South Korea and that it should
consider coordinating with Russia in dealing with what it called the
“U.S.-Japan-South Korea antimissile network.” The paper was referring in part
to statements by Japan that it might consider using Thaad as a defense against
North Korea.
China has said that the Thaad system would
threaten its nuclear deterrent capacity. It said the system’s powerful radar
would make it much easier for the United States to detect Chinese missiles and
would give the American military much more time to intercept them.
Chinese state news outlets have also
suggested a consumer boycott of South Korean products. Much of China’s anger
has been borne by Lotte, a South Korean conglomerate that provided the
government with land for the Thaad deployment in a deal that was finalized this
week. Lotte has stores and shopping malls across China, and modest groups of
mostly older Chinese held protests at the company’s outlets in several cities
on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Lotte website serving
Chinese shoppers was hacked, the company said. On Thursday, another hacking
attack shut down its duty-free shop’s website for several hours. Lotte also
said that some construction had been stopped by the Chinese authorities on the
grounds that it had failed a fire inspection.
In recent months, popular South Korean stars
have been denied visas to perform in China, and South Korean TV shows have been
blocked from Chinese video streaming websites. Many in South Korea say they
believe those actions are in retaliation for the Thaad issue, though China has
denied any link.
One of the musicians denied a visa was Sumi
Jo, a coloratura soprano who has toured China almost every year for the past
decade. Her brother, Jay Jo, said that she had been unable this year to get the
government-approved invitation letter required for an entry visa.
“As soon as the opportunities reopen, she
will resume her concerts in China,” Mr. Jo said. “But right now, we have no
idea when that will happen.”
Trade experts said Beijing might be reluctant
to take more extreme economic measures. China is South Korea’s largest trading
partner by far, but South Korea is also China’s fourth-largest, and Beijing
would probably be reluctant to damage those ties during the current economic
slowdown.
South Korean politicians have said that
Washington wants the Thaad system deployed by mid-May, when many expect
presidential elections to be held in the South. President Park Geun-hye was
impeached by South Korea’s legislature in December over a corruption scandal,
and she awaits a ruling by the country’s Constitutional Court on whether she
will be permanently removed from office. The court’s decision is expected in
the coming weeks, and if it rules against her, a new president will be elected
60 days later.
South Korea’s progressive opposition is seen
as having a strong chance of winning the presidency should that election be
held. Opposition politicians have expressed skepticism about the Thaad system,
and some have charged that the United States wants to rush the deployment to
ensure that it is completed before a new president takes office.
Members of the largest opposition party, the
Democratic Party, have visited China twice since August. In January, in an
unusual development, a delegation from the party met with the Chinese foreign
minister, Wang Yi.
China had hoped it could persuade the South’s
next president to refuse to agree to Thaad, said Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor
of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. “Now China is
afraid Thaad will be deployed before the new president of South Korea is in
office,” he said.
Even as China’s fury toward the South is on
full display, it is also at odds with the North. A North Korean diplomat, Ri
Kil-song, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for five days of talks, an apparent
effort by Pyongyang to reach out to China, its economic and political
benefactor.
Mr. Ri and Mr. Wang, the Chinese foreign
minister, made soothing public statements on Wednesday about the “traditional
friendship” between their two countries. Behind the scenes, though, things are
unlikely to have been so smooth.
Last month, China suspended its imports of
North Korean coal for the rest of the year, a surprise move that appeared to be
a response to the brazen killing in Malaysia of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged
half brother of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. South Korea has accused
the North of carrying out the attack.
The killing may have been taken as an affront
by Beijing because the victim had lived in Macau, a Chinese special
administrative region. Kim Jong-nam had expressed admiration for China’s market
economy, and some analysts have speculated that China saw him as a potential replacement
for his erratic half brother.
“One thing after another is happening,” Mr.
Cheng, the Renmin University professor, said of China’s simultaneous troubles
with the Koreas. “Not good things — all bad things.”
Jane Perlez reported from Beijing and Choe
Sang-Hun from Seoul, South Korea. Amy Qin and Yufan Huang contributed research
from Beijing.
