China Makes A Deal With South Korea That Undermines U.S. Efforts To Establish A Regional Defense Umbrella Wth Japan And South Korea

Chinese President Xi Jinping gives his epic speech to the 19th National Congress. Photo: Reuters

David Josef Volodzko, SCMP: China wins its war against South Korea’s US THAAD missile shield – without firing a shot

Seoul signs up to military constraints in return for Beijing lifting economic sanctions, setting a worrying precedent for China’s regional rivals.

A detente between China and South Korea may be good news for the Korean economy and a necessary step towards resolving the North Korea issue, but at the same time it threatens to degrade regional security for years to come.

When South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on November 11 to “normalise exchanges”, they ended a conflict that began more than a year ago with Seoul and Washington’s decision to deploy an anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea.

Beijing, which claims the system’s radar can be used by the United States to spy on China, retaliated against the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system with unofficial sanctions against the South. Seoul has now agreed to accept military constraints in return for the lifting of those sanctions, creating a worrying precedent for Beijing’s rivals in the region.

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WNU Editor: The key parts of this deal are the following ....

.... The military constraints are known as the “three nos”, meaning Seoul agrees there will be no further anti-ballistic missile systems in Korea, no joining of a region-wide US missile defence system and no military alliance involving Korea, the US and Japan. This is an enormous sacrifice but for reasons both economic and political Moon had few other options.

South Korea has been suffering from Chinese economic sanctions for the past 16 months .... they just threw in the towel. Unfortunately .... it also undermines U.S. efforts to establish a regional defense umbrella that would involve South Korea, Japan, and the U.S.. To put it bluntly .... President Trump's strategy of containing North Korea by working with South Korea and Japan has just suffered a setback. This also explains what has happened in the past few weeks. President Trump goes to Japan .... and is told by the Japanese on how dangerous the situation is in this part of Asia. He goes to South Korea .... and is told that they are negotiating with China on a defense and economic arrangement that will squeeze the U.S. out .... but China will play an important role in holding back North Korea. Trump goes to China .... is told the same thing, but with even more promises from the Chinese that they will contain North Korea.  President Trump and his advisers do not share the same optimism that South Korea and China have on being able to contain North Korea, and they make the judgement call that it is going to get worse ..... hence we are now reading reports like this .... U.S. Escalates Its Research To Try And Stop North Korean Missiles From Leaving Korean Airspace (November 16, 2017). As for China's promises and optimism on containing North Korea .... I guess it is not working out ....North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un Is Ignoring China's Special Envoy To Improve Ties.