THAAD Crisis Erupts, East Asian Situation Deteriorates

  THAAD Crisis Erupts, East Asian Situation Deteriorates

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

March 11, 2017

 Translation of an Except

US C-17 jumbo transport planes, in the midnight of March 6^th, transported two sets of THAAD launchers to Osan Air Force Base in South Korea for immediate installation. At the time when Park Geun-hye was being impeached, few had expected this deployment would come so soon. Signs of precipitous deterioration in the East Asian strategic situation have emerged as a result.

THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system is equipped with the functions of intercepting incoming short-range, mid-range and long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles. More potently, its X Band radar, according to the United States, can detect targets six hundred to one thousand kilometers away. Beijing, on the other hand, believes its potency can reach as far as two thousand kilometers, which will threaten the deployment of the PLA in East and Northeast China.

Although THAAD is deployed in South Korea, in reality it aims at defending against China, extending to the Far Eastern region of Russia. North Korea, which initiated this crisis, disregarded the United Nations resolution, defiantly developing nuclear weapons. After multiple missile test firings and improvements, it not only progressed from liquid to solid fuel, but also made improvements in its guidance system. Beijing could not prevent the United States’ deployment of THAAD in South Korea, nor was it able to prevent North Korea from test firing ballistic missiles. It could only helplessly watch the United States absorb South Korea and Japan into the East Asian collective security mechanism through THAAD, thus forming a "Petite NATO." While Northeast Asia is embroiled in the swirl of THAAD, Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) publicly indicated that the Republic of China would not “join THAAD because Taiwan should not get involved in others’ war nor should it make meaningless sacrifices under these circumstances.”

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