JAKARTA - The Chinese government urged South Korea's new government, under President Yoon Suk-yeol, to defend the previous administration's policy on the United States' Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system on Wednesday.
It refers to the so-called 'Three Nos' which include; no additional THAAD deployments in Korea, no participation in the US-led missile defense network and no involvement in a trilateral military alliance with Japan.
These three things became the principles held by the liberal Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of South Korea, during the 2017-2022 period of government.
"South Korea expressed its respect for the THAAD issue in 2017," Zhao Lijian, spokesman for Beijing's foreign ministry, said at a press conference, reported the Korea Times July 27.
"It plays an important role in cooperation and deepening mutual trust," Zhao continued.
Zhao's remarks were in response to a question about recent comments by South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin that the "Three Nos" approach was not a formal agreement or promise with China.
He added that a new leader "couldn't turn a blind eye to past debts" and urged Seoul to "act with caution" in relation to highly sensitive issues affecting the security of neighboring countries.
It is known, while campaigning for elections some time ago, President Yoon, a conservative from the People's Power Party, raised the need for South Korea to get additional THAAD batteries deployed on its soil to counter the growing missile threat from North Korea.
As for China, in particular, it is known to be sensitive about the powerful radar system that operates within the THAAD system. This US-made anti-ballistic missile defense system is designed to take down short, medium and intermediate-range missiles. One of the strengths of this defense system is the presence of the AN/TPY-2 ground-based radar (GBR), long-range, very high-altitude active digital antenna array.
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