South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday made what a local newspaper termed “a last-ditch” effort to settle a row with China over a US antimissile system, in an interview with China’s state-run TV station.
Korea JoongAng Daily quoted Moon as asking Beijing to “walk a mile” in Seoul’s shoes to understand its position. Moon is arriving in Beijing on Wednesday for a state visit in which a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antimissile system deployed in South Korea is expected be a major topic of discussion.
“Korea and China each has a different position on the THAAD issue,” Moon said in an interview aired by China’s state-run CCTV on Monday night. “We need to use the wisdom to walk a mile in each other’s shoes and take time to address a problem that cannot be resolved instantly.”
The 30-minute interview, conducted on Friday at the Blue House, was reportedly aired Monday night. Moon is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
Xi and Moon informally agreed to normalize ties that were damaged by a flap over THAAD when they met in mid-November during the APEC meeting in Danang, Vietnam.
Seoul now says it will not accept any additional US THAAD batteries and that it won’t participate with the US in a regional missile defense network. It also says it won’t join the US and Japan in a trilateral military alliance.
China, in return, is easing the economic retaliations it imposed on South Korea over THAAD.
Beijing has objected to the THAAD deployment because it contends the system’s powerful radar can spy on Chinese territory.
Differing interpretations of THAAD agreement?
Patricia M. Kim, a Stanton Nuclear Fellow with the Council on Foreign relations in Washington, said in an earlier interview with Asia Times that Beijing and Seoul may have differing interpretations of what they informally agreed to over THAAD. Kim specializes in Chinese foreign policy and Korean security issues.
“The “three no’s” were portrayed in the Chinese press as new commitments made by South Korea. But as the ROK’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has clarified, these weren’t promises but statements of long-standing South Korean government policies,” Kim told Asia Times. “They weren’t concessions on South Korea’s part — at least from Seoul’s point of view— though they were presented as such in the Chinese media.”
“I think these different perceptions on the ‘three no’s’ could come back to haunt Seoul at some point by setting expectations very high in Beijing that Seoul will never engage in these activities,” Kim added. “And anything can be interpreted as a ‘violation’ of the stated policy.”
Kim noted, for instance, that South Korea did not commit to refrain from trilateral cooperation with the US and Japan, only not to enter into a trilateral alliance. She also cautioned that Beijing could call out Seoul for working closely with the US and Japan in the future and point to the “three no’s” as grounds for its complaint.
It is to the region’s good that the the SK President is fair minded and able to see and grasp what is most important at the moment. We have to keep the peace now more tban ever considering the brewing tensions in the Korean peninsula. Strategic interests of all countries involved should take a back seat to the present reality of a devastating war that could happen because of miscalculations. Peace should be of oaramount importance. Any unintended consequence that may happen from this detente will not be as bad as the war that some quarters are trying so hard to justify now.
China is a neighbour to the Koreas. The USA is a distant country whose interests in the region are not regional, they are purely American, as every US president has repeated time and time again. If the USA were to withdraw from the region, go back home, and allow the countries in the region to sort out their differences, resolutions would be so much less complicated. There is no reason for South Korea to have the USA as an ally, and there is every reason why China and the Koreas should be neighbours who respect the sovereignity of their respective countries. The USA is a meddler at best, an intruder, as the world defines American interference. How many other countries need to extent their national interests abroad as the USA does?
Well put Mr. Sampson
You spoken your mind Mr Sampson,but I assure you that other countries like Russia ,China,Iran and Turkey wished they could be seen the way U.S is seen by nations of the world, just that such recognition has been far fetching for them.therefore,China posing as neighbour or regional friend to Seoul or any other Asian country is simply to take America’s position…..#moral#whoisfooling#who
America is the causal of all problems in the Middle East, Africa, North Korea and now Asia in the name of creating peace but in all the wars it as caused have never seen any peace. See what is Iraque, Congo, Egypt, Libia and Afganistan. Libia and Afganistan was more peacefull than now but what peace do they call for. Better Russia and China who believes in peace than America the war causal, who cerebrate deaths
Vietnam who was handled by Russia during the Viet-American war in 1979 is better off today, because Russia was there to help unlike US they will help you but control your politics and econmy afterward. They are like blood sucker.
Don’t believe that Russia or China are any different in their aims than the US is. Each is a super power trying for world dominance. Only their methods are more subtle than the US’s. Think seriously, which superpower would you prefer to be controlled by.In my case I would choose to be ruled, if I had to choose, by a capalist democratic country similar to the US than a communist country similar to China or Russia. Better still not be ruled by any outside super power if possible
SK take care
Don’t fooled with these crooked whites
Rip english????
Russian and China believe in peace?. You are sadly misguided if you believe they believe in peace. Look at the countries Russian troops have been fighting in in the last 20 years starting with Afganistan and ending up in Syria
China have backed various countries leaders with military hardware and inteligence logistics .
When any natural disaster strikes ant where in the world the US are amongst the first to supply aid and help. Russia does nothing, and China’s idea of aid is to lend the impoverished country vast amounts of money so they can use Chinese materials and personel to build massive inffrastucture projects that are no use to that country.