War In Asia? China, Russia Work Together To Oppose US THAAD In South Korea

China and Russia are working together to oppose the deployment of a U.S. anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Wednesday. Washington and Seoul’s plans to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system led to strong opposition from Beijing and Moscow over security concerns.

“Both sides said they will continue to strengthen their coordinated opposition to THAAD,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s said on its website.

The comments came after Kong Xuanyou, China’s assistant foreign minister, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov held a meeting in Beijing. Russian foreign ministry also urged the U.S. and South Korea to avoid installing THAAD to maintain regional peace.

The Russian ministry said in a statement: “[Both] parties emphasized that collective political and diplomatic efforts should be stepped up to ease tensions and initiate the process of military and political detente across the board in Northeast Asia, in order to create conditions conducive to resolving the nuclear issue, as well as other issue, on the Korean Peninsula.”

In January, China and Russia agreed to take countermeasures over the defense system’s deployment in a bid to safeguard interests of both the countries and to maintain strategic balance in the Korean Peninsula. The two countries believe THAAD will be used to monitor their activities — a claim both the U.S. and South Korea have dismissed.

Washington and Seoul have maintained that they will go ahead with the deployment, which is scheduled to take place sometime next year.

The defense system is designed to intercept short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles and is equipped with long-range radar. THAAD is reportedly capable of intercepting North Korea’s intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

According to South Korean media reports, China has unofficially imposed several economic measures on Seoul to pressure the country against the system’s installation. Moreover, South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group last month shut down three retail stores in China reportedly over THAAD. The company also underwent a series of regulatory investigations into its operations in China in late 2016. Most recently, Lotte alleged Wednesday that its Chinese website apparently came under a cyberattack after a virus was planted by hackers from China.