Beijing, 10 May 2023 (TDI): China has warned the US, Japan, and South Korea of stoking bloc confrontation in the Korean peninsula. The statement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Weiben, was a response to a question by Bloomberg regarding Chinese concerns over the US, Japan, and South Korea linking their radar systems and the “three noes” policy agreed between China and the Moon administration.
China has expressed concerns that linking radar systems between the US and its East Asia allies to track down North Korean missiles would also allow for greater surveillance of China.
During the Moon administration, both South Korea and China agreed on the “three noes” policy which refers to three agreements, no additional deployment of the US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system (THAAD) in Korea; no participation in a US-led missile defense network; and no involvement in a trilateral military alliance with the US and Japan.
Wang Weiben said that the issue on the Korean Peninsula is political and security in nature and stems from the remnant of the Cold War with no peace mechanism in place.
He added that using issues in the Korean peninsula to provide impetus to the US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation won’t bring any peace mechanism but stoke bloc confrontation in the region, hurt the strategic interests of other countries, and take away the fragile trust among the parties in the region.
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He further said that China hopes that South Korea would handle the THAAD issue properly so that it doesn’t become a stumbling block in the bilateral relations between the two countries. Last year in August, both sides met in Qingdao. They agreed to properly handle the THAAD issue so that it doesn’t unnecessarily disrupt the bilateral relationship between China and South Korea.
