China has expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), after South Korea’s Lotte Group decided to provide a land to install the US anti-ballistic missile system.
"The move will severely disrupt the regional strategic balance and the strategic security interests of countries in the region,” Geng Shuang, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a regular press briefing on Monday.
CFP Photo
Earlier in the day, an affiliate of Lotte Group agreed on a land swap with the South Korean government, according to which a golf resort in Seongju, in the southeastern part of the country, will be used as a site for the missile defense system. In return, a parcel of military-owned land in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, will be given to the company.
It “will worsen the peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula," Geng said, noting that China "will take necessary measures to safeguard its security interests."
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