Chinese President Xi Jinping told his South Korean counterpart that China opposes the USA deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, Xinhua state news agency reported on Monday.
Advertisement
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast Monday, South Korea’s military said, in a show of force timed to the G-20 economic summit in China.
People watch a TV news program reporting about North Korea’s missile launch, at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. President Barack Obama was in China meeting with the leaders of France and Germany around the time of the launch.
North Korea regularly engages in missile and rocket tests, especially when the world’s eyes are turned to Northeast Asia.
The launches of what are believed to be mid-range Rodong missiles came during a meeting of global leaders at the Group of 20 summit (G-20) in China.
China says the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system is meant to spy on China, while Seoul and Washington say the system is intended exclusively to defend against North Korea’s missile threat. He also reaffirmed China’s commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. “China and the ROK should cherish their political mutual trust, safeguard their cooperative foundations, and overcome difficulties and challenges, in order to put bilateral ties on the right track toward stable and healthy development”, Xi said.
China has repeatedly expressed anger since the United States and South Korea made a final decision in July to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in the South to counter missile and nuclear threats from North Korea.
Following the latest missile launch, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “We’ve noted the reports”. The Chinese position has been consistent and clear.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the launch last month of a missile from a submarine as “the greatest success”, according to state media. In June, after a string of failures, North Korea sent an intermediate Musudan missile more than 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) high in a test launch that outside analysts said showed progress in efforts to acquire the ability to strike US forces in the region.
Japan’sDefense Ministry said the latest missiles landed about 200 to 250 kilometers off the west coast of Okushiri Island, close to Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands.
The missiles represented “a serious threat to Japan’s security”, the ministry said in a statement.
North Korea had no comment through its state media about its latest missile launch but it continued to strongly criticize annual military drills between South Korea and USA that wrapped up on September 2.
Advertisement
Carol E. Lee in Hangzhou, China, Chieko Tsuneoka in Tokyo and Chuin-Wei Yap in Beijing contributed to this article.
