© Flickr/ U.S. Missile Defense Agency

Security Tensions Rise as US Pushes THAAD Missile System on South Korea

BEIJING (Sputnik) — According to Wang, China does not intend to wait for the election of a new South Korean president, as the next head of state is unlikely to change the policy regarding or curtail the THAAD deployment process.”We will complete our deployment before THAAD begins operations. There is no need to wait for two months [before the election of the next South Korean president]… We already have such equipment in place. We just have to move it to the right spot,” Wang said on the sidelines of the political sessions in Beijing on Monday, as quoted by the South China Morning Post.

According to former PLA Col. Yue Geng, China can disrupt the functionality of the THAAD system with the help of electromagnetic technologies.

Last week, the United States announced the deployment of THAAD anti-ballistic missile elements in South Korea. After reports of the start of the deployment process, China’s Foreign Ministry stressed that it is strongly against the process and will take the necessary measures to protect its security interests.

Seoul and Washington first agreed to deploy THAAD in July 2016 amid South Korea’s growing unease about the nuclear program of North Korea, which fired four ballistic missiles on March 6. The system is designed to intercept short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles at the terminal incoming stage.