On May 20, US President Biden flew to South Korea on a special plane and conducted a three-day visit to South Korea. On the afternoon of May 21, he jointly issued a joint declaration of the United States and South Korea with South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol . On May 23, as soon as Biden left South Korea, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-seok said that will achieve the normalization of the THAAD base in South Korea as soon as possible. This move is also Yoon Seok-hyuk fulfilled his relevant commitment to the people during his campaign. However, the normalization of " THAAD " poses a great threat to China and neighboring countries, and even the entire East Asia is shrouded in deterrence from the US military. In order to speed up the deployment of THAAD, Yoon Seo-yeol seems to have no regard for the good or bad Sino-South Korea relations.
The main purpose of the THAAD anti-missile system is to defend short to medium-range ballistic missiles. On July 13, 2016, the United States and South Korea decided to deploy the THAAD anti-missile system in Sungju County, North Gyeongsang Province, southeastern South Korea. However, until now, due to environmental assessment and review, the THAAD in South Korea is still in a temporary deployment state. Once the THAAD is officially put into operation in South Korea, it will have a serious impact on the security situation in the entire East Asia region.
Yoon Seok-hyuk reached ten promises to the Korean people during his campaign, including overcoming the emergency assistance of the new crown epidemic and the vision of the post- new crown epidemic era, creating jobs, and supplying housing. Yoon Seok-yeol promised in these ten items that he would complete the general environmental impact assessment of THAAD base as soon as possible, restore the base to normal, and ensure that the US military stationed in South Korea successfully carry out its mission. The policy of appears to be beneficial to South Korea's diplomatic security and homeland security on the surface, but in fact it is a manifestation of the Yoon Seok-young government's pro-US government.
After all, South Korea's homeland security depends largely on the help of the United States. According to Korean media reports, from 2006 to 2018, South Korea spent 45.7886 trillion won to purchase weapons from overseas, of which 78% came from the United States. Although South Korea's independent defense industry has developed since then, the entire South Korean national defense security still relies heavily on the help of the United States. This also understands why Yoon Seo-yeol wants to please the United States to deploy THAAD in South Korea, in order to have the ability to use the weapons provided by the United States to defend itself if war breaks out in East Asia.
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As soon as the "THAAD" plan was launched in 2016, it was strongly opposed by the Korean people. The residents of Jinquan City have established the Jinquan City Struggle Committee against the deployment of THAAD and strongly oppose THAAD deployment. In 2017, the people of Xingju County, North Gyeongsang Province fought endlessly to oppose the deployment of THAAD. However, the government ignored the people's calls and continued to promote the construction of THAAD. Many people said: "The end of our struggle is the day when THAAD leaves South Korea."
The South Korean government has its own ambitions to deploy THAAD when facing opposition from the people. For the South Korean government, the deployment of US troops in South Korea can help the South Korean army update weapons and officer training, which can greatly improve South Korea's national defense strength and allow South Korea to gain more say on the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula. On the other hand, the deployment of the United States in South Korea will allow South Korea to continue to maintain alliances with the United States, thereby helping South Korea establish its status as a big power and giving South Korea more voice in East Asia.
Of course, American politicians are not philanthropists, and they have their own good intentions to deploy THAAD in South Korea. The deployment of THAAD in East Asia is a win-win situation for the United States. First, the deployment of THAAD can break the strategic balance of Asia, suppress China and Russia's nuclear counterattack strategic space, and maintain the United States' strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region.On the other hand, the deployment of THAAD will help the United States create an Asian version of " NATO ". In the future, the United States will not rule out the use of the THAAD system to include South Korea in its anti-missile system , and then force South Korea to completely turn to the United States for national defense and security. Once war occurs in East Asia, the United States will be able to regard South Korea as the frontier battlefield of the war, and it only needs to reap the benefits behind the war and make a fortune in the war. Such a "agent war" model has been applied in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In this way, South Korea can be said to be Ukraine in Asia.
After being elected, Yoon Seok-yeol changed his strategy of Moon Jae-in to seek a balance between China and the United States and blindly turned to the United States. At Yoon Seok-yeol's inauguration ceremony on May 10, China sent special representatives to attend. After meeting with South Korea, it agreed that China and South Korea are willing to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to further strengthen exchanges and pragmatic cooperation in various fields between the two sides, enhance civil friendship, and promote the opening of a new era of South Korea-China relations. However, after Biden's visit to South Korea ended, he showed goodwill to the United States, not only joined the so-called " Indo-Pacific Economic Framework ", attempting to build an anti-China economic circle in the Asia-Pacific region, but also normalized "THAAD". At the same time, he issued a joint statement with the United States to prepare to jointly maintain "freedom of navigation" in South China Sea , threatening China's national defense and territorial security. The face of Western politicians who went back on their word was undoubtedly revealed.
In recent years, South Korea and China have deepened their cooperation in the economic and trade fields. If THAAD is promoted at this time, it will definitely affect the normal trade relations between China and South Korea. China is South Korea's largest trading partner, largest export market and largest source of imports. According to statistics, in 2021, China was South Korea's largest trading partner, accounting for more than 30% of South Korea's total exports, and has remained the first for 17 consecutive years. South Korea is also China's fifth largest trading partner. China-South Korea bilateral trade relations are crucial to the development of the country.
And the South Korean government should also realize that the United States has a bad intention to deploy THAAD in South Korea. If THAAD is normalized, the interests of South Korea will be harmed in the end. It can be seen from the Russian-Ukrainian war that Americans sacrificed Ukraine's national security and people's lives for the sake of their interests. On the other hand, the Democratic Progressive Party authorities in Taiwan have always had fantasies about the United States, believing that the United States is a helper to create "one China, one Taiwan". However, a few days ago, American officials did not hesitate to blow up Taiwan's infrastructure and TSMC's remarks in the war, and they could also see that there were no real friends in front of Americans. The forces that the United States has supported around the world are just pawns for their competition for major powers, and South Korea is one of them. If South Korea does not want to be the second Ukraine, it should stop deploying THAAD in time and return to normal track with China.
If South Korea really goes all the way to the "THAAD" issue, it will take the initiative to bear the consequences of undermining China-South Korea relations. , and the Yoon Seok-yue government naturally does not want the loss of China's big market. Not only South Korea, but all the United States and its allies should not attempt to threaten China's territorial integrity and security, otherwise, China will firmly take countermeasures and do what it says.
