U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Mark A. Milley addresses a crowd of dignitaries, officials and military servicemembers at the National Defense University of Warsaw on Monday, June 6, 2016.
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Gen. Mark A. Milley, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, is now in China even as tensions remain at unsafe levels over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile missile system in South Korea and China’s refusal to heed an worldwide tribunal’s decision nullifying its claim to own the South China Sea.
The Army also said in the statement regarding Milley’s visit to South Korea, “While there, he will receive updates on brigade deployments, the combined U.S. and ROK 2nd Infantry Division, the relocation of the U.S. Army units to Camp Humphreys, and plans to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense to protect the Republic of Korea from North Korean ballistic missile threats”.
On July 8, the South and the United States announced a decision to deploy the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea.
Similarly, US Army Gen. Charles Jacoby, former commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), stressed the importance of deploying THAAD to protect the Korean peninsula and US interests, despite it upsetting near peers like Russian Federation and China.
Chinese state media have published daily attacks against the US and South Korea over the missile defence system and China has cancelled events involving South Korean entertainers.
South Korea has also said that the move is purely to defend against North Korea’s missile threat. China angrily rejected the verdict and has vowed to continue developing man-made islands which the U.S. says have exacerbated tensions in the strategically crucial region.
A statement says he “encouraged the Chinese to do the same as a way to reduce regional tensions”.
The visit is “aimed at understanding climate change issues as well as underscoring Taiwan’s sovereignty”, the official Central News Agency quoted Taiwanese officials as saying.
Japan last week called in the Chinese ambassador to protest over a large increase in the number of Chinese coastguard and fishing ships operating in waters surrounding the islands, called the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China.
Earlier in the day, South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo held a meeting with representatives from Seongju county, which was initially chosen for the THAAD deployment.
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It is part of his August 15-23 trip to South Korea, China, Japan and Hawaii to visit his Asian counterparts, senior officials and US Pacific Command leaders.
