As the United States moves closer to deploying its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea, with the latter granting additional land, Beijing has threatened to impose economic sanctions on Seoul.
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He views THAAD on the Korean Peninsula as a threat to Chinese security. In the process, however, China has exposed its double standard by not applying the same arguments against India, which is protesting Chinese activities in Bhutan.
In fact, her stance on India’s concerns over Bhutan is diametrically opposed to her protesting against US actions in South Korea. Beijing forgets that Bhutan is as important to India as North Korea is to China.
It can be noted that South Korea, which has a security treaty with the United States, decided to deploy the THAAD missile defense system in July 2016 in response to threats of missile and nuclear attacks from North Korea. (North Korea has experimented with launching more than 30 ballistic missiles and continues to expand the range of its nuclear-capable short-range missiles; it is reportedly preparing to carry out its seventh test nuclear explosion, the first since 2017).
The THAAD system is designed to intercept ballistic missiles; it does not carry warheads but destroys attack missiles on impact. As US State Department spokesman Vedanta Patel said last week, the THAAD system is “a limited, low-profile self-defense system designed to counter Korea’s ballistic rocket attack program. North”.
Patel claimed that the United States and South Korea “(pursued) a purely defensive approach to protect South Korea and its people from military attack and to protect the forces of their military alliance from weapons of mass destruction.” .
In other words, the THAAD system in South Korea is intended to deal with North Korean missile threats.
But China says THAAD could be used to spy on Chinese military installations. So much so that she protested Seoul’s 2016 decision and imposed trade and cultural sanctions on South Korea.
It has banned some South Korean products, increased inspections to impede trade, restricted tourism, restricted the distribution of South Korean films, and encouraged nationwide boycotts of South Korean products.
Apparently, South Korean manufacturers lost at least $7.5 billion in economic losses, and the South Korean tourism industry reportedly suffered losses of $15 billion.
Trade and cultural exchanges only resumed when former South Korean President Moon Jae-in pledged a ‘three no’s policy in 2017 – no further deployment of THAAD, no southern integration Korea in a US-led regional missile defense system and no trilateral alliance. with the United States and Japan.
Policy change
However, Moon’s successor, Yoon Suk Yeol, who was elected president recently, said he would not abide by the “three no’s” and that the policy was not a commitment to China or a formal agreement with China. China, but a statement of Moon’s political position.
The Presidential Blue House in Seoul issued a statement stating, “Our government clearly states that THAAD is a tool of self-defense aimed at protecting the lives and safety of our people against nuclear and missile threats from North Korea and is a matter of security sovereignty that can never be negotiated. »
As a result, Seoul has now granted an additional 400,000 square meters (98 acres) of land to Washington to “normalize the operations” of the THAAD system. Land in Seongju Agricultural County brings the total reserved for THAAD systems to 730,000 square meters (180 acres). It includes of course the 330,000 square meters (82 acres) granted five years ago.
Logically, China has no case on the matter, which, strictly speaking, is a bilateral matter between two sovereign countries – South Korea and the United States – which are bound by a security treaty.
THAAD is a defensive measure against North Korea, not China. But China, according to Chinese media and experts, is concerned because it fears that South Korea’s THAAD could weaken its second strike capability and destroy strategic stability between China and the United States.
The Chinese argue that THAAD’s technological capabilities, primarily the AN/TPY-2 X-ray radar system it uses, which if directed at China would provide a surveillance system for missiles launched in a radius of 1,500 to 2,000 kilometers.
This will speed up the prediction time of the US Missile Defense (NMD) system and significantly increase the missile intercept rate.
Tensions between India and China
At the same time, China does not apply these points when India protests against what it is doing in Bhutan. All in all, Chinese incursions/advances/infrastructure developments in Bhutan, especially in the Chumbi Valley, substantially affect India’s security concerns.
The narrow Indian Siliguri Corridor lies immediately south of the Chumbi Valley. This explains why in June 2017, when the Chinese started building the roads in the Doklam region of Bhutan to strengthen its military infrastructure on the border with India, New Delhi was forced to checkmate the construction by mobilizing its troops.
Although almost after three months of stalemate the two countries decided to withdraw their troops, the Chinese are said to have made steady efforts to extend the route; but the situation was brought under control.
China claims many areas (a total of 764 kilometers) of Bhutan as its own territory. Incidentally, the two don’t even have diplomatic relations.
India has been questioned by China about its rights to question Beijing’s activities in Bhutan, “a universally recognized sovereign country”. However, China knows the answer to this question very well, given its own position on the Korean Peninsula under similar circumstances.
Isn’t South Korea a sovereign country for China? After all, what the United States is doing in South Korea should not bother Beijing. As noted, THAAD in South Korea does not pose a direct threat to China; it is an anti-ballistic missile system designed to destroy intermediate-range ballistic missiles from North Korea, not China.
But then, the reality is that China views stability on the Korean peninsula as extremely important to its own security, and any imbalance there (in favor of the US-South Korea alliance) will change the regional dynamic.
And here, China’s apprehensions have some merit, provided it acknowledges India’s similar concerns about stability in Bhutan.
After all, the Chumbi Valley is only 500 kilometers from the Siliguri Corridor – the Chicken Neck that connects India to North East India and Nepal to Bhutan. It has enormous strategic importance for India in the sense that China’s dominance here will negatively affect stability in the Siliguri Corridor, vital not only for the link between the Indian mainland and the northeastern states, but also to ensure the security of Kolkata and the plains of North Bihar.
And this is all the more important after China opened a rail network in August 2014 linking Lhasa to Shigatse, a small town near the Indian border in Sikkim. China now wants to extend this line to Yadong, located at the mouth of the Chumbi Valley. And once that is done, potential threats to the Siliguri Corridor from China will take on menacing proportions.
It is therefore evident that India is concerned about Chinese incursions into Bhutanese territory in the same way that China is concerned about the deployment of THAAD in South Korea.
Even otherwise, relations between India and Bhutan are guided by the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, signed in 1949 and renewed in 2007. Bhutan and India are expected to consult closely on foreign affairs and defense issues.
The Indian army has always been present in Bhutan and is stationed at many Sino-Bhutanese border posts. The Indian Army maintains a training mission in Bhutan known as the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT), not to mention the exemplary work being done in that country by the Border Roads Organization, a subdivision of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers .
In addition, the Royal Bhutan Army relies on the Indian Air Force Eastern Command for air support in emergencies. Importantly, in 1958, then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru told the Indian Parliament that any aggression against Bhutan would be considered aggression against India.
Therefore, Bhutan is simply no ordinary country for India. It is as important to India as North Korea is to China.
- Veteran author and journalist Prakash Nanda has been commentating on politics, foreign policy on strategic affairs for nearly three decades. A former National Fellow of the Indian Council for Historical Research and a recipient of the Seoul Peace Prize Fellowship, he is also a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies. CONTACT: [email protected]
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