Paper
Douglas H. Paal
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Source: Getty
In The Media
RIMPAC 2016 and THAAD Deployment Tension
An advanced missile defense system, commonly called THAAD, is heading to South Korea, to counter threats from the DPRK. Neighboring China opposes the system.
Published on Jul 13, 2016
Source: CCTV America
Doug Paal suggests that the United States is a long way from upsetting the strategic balance in Northeast Asia by deploying THAAD, but that there is an incipient security dilemma. The democratic leaders of South Korea and the United States must take measures to protect their peoples from rogue sources of missile threat. North Korea has been exponentially developing its missile capability and the threat has been growing exponentially. The American and South Korean leaders have agreed to deploy THAAD to provide some means of protection. China and Russia see what the United States regards as defensive as purely offensive, and then take measures of their own, which these countries see as purely defensive but the United States sees as offensive. This is when leadedrs have to convene and prevent the constant escalation of security dilemma type of dynamics. China also made some tactical mistakes in this by openly requiring South Korea to not do certain things. For a democratic society, this means that South Korea has to do these things to show that it is not dictated by China.One Chinese concern is that China is worried about the radars that will look at China and dissect the difference between real Chinese missile warheads and decoys, and that will give the U.S. an advantage in a nuclear conflict. Another Chinese concern is U.S. integration of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan into an advanced missile detection system in Northeast Asia. This will create a serious political and military threat for China in the longer run.
About the Author
Douglas H. Paal
Distinguished Fellow, Asia Program
Paal previously served as vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase International and as unofficial U.S. representative to Taiwan as director of the American Institute in Taiwan.
- America’s Future in a Dynamic Asia
- U.S.-China Relations at the Forty-Year MarkQ&A
- +1
Douglas H. Paal, Tong Zhao, Chen Qi, …
Recent Work
SecurityMilitaryForeign PolicyNuclear PolicyArms ControlNorth AmericaUnited StatesEast AsiaSouth KoreaChinaRussiaNorth Korea
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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