Voice of America:
China appears to be intensifying a diplomatic and cultural campaign against a U.S.-South Korean plan to deploy an American missile defense system in South Korea – a system Beijing sees as threatening its security.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed “firm opposition” to the 2017 deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se in Tokyo on Wednesday, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. It was China’s first direct high-level diplomatic protest to South Korea about the THAAD plan since Seoul and Washington announced it on July 8. The two allies said the move is aimed at protecting South Korea and American troops stationed there from what they view as an enhanced threat of a North Korean ballistic missile attack.
Chinese television networks also have obscured or deleted images of South Korean K-Pop stars in their programs in recent weeks. Chinese state-run news site Global Times reported Wednesday that eastern China’s Jiangsu Television “cut shots or blurred the images” of ‘Gangnam Style’ singer Psy and musical group iKON in a reality show broadcast on August 21. In another case, Chinese online media site Sina reported this month that Zhejiang Television, also in eastern China, deleted some scenes of singer Hwang Chi-yeul and pixilated his image in other parts of an August 13 episode of its Challengers Union variety show.
Cultural retaliation?
Chinese and South Korean media outlets such as Global Times and Korea Joongang Daily have described the recent expunging of South Korean pop icons admired in China from Chinese television programs as part of an undeclared Beijing policy of punishing Seoul for agreeing to host the U.S. missile defense system. South Korean media also have reported that Chinese companies canceled several appearances by South Korean celebrities in China after the THAAD announcement. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said earlier this year that her country’s entertainment sector plays an “important” role in boosting South Korean exports and attracting tourists.
In an interview for VOA’s China 360 podcast, Korea analyst Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations said it is hard to draw a direct correlation between the misfortunes of the K-Pop stars in China and Beijing’s anger about the impending deployment of THAAD in South Korea.
“It is not uncommon to have sudden cancellations of Korean concerts in China because they are not necessarily a steady business,” Synder said.
But Snyder pointed to another apparent Chinese pressure tactic against Seoul: China announcing earlier this month a tightening of rules for South Korean tourists to apply for group visas to visit the country. “That probably is going to slow the volume of South Korean tourism to China,” he said.
China’s complaint
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang reiterated the reasons for Beijing’s long-held opposition to the planned U.S. missile defense shield in South Korea last month. He said it will “exceed” Seoul’s defense needs, “undermine” China’s security interests and “shatter” the regional balance of power.
China is the only East Asian nation armed with nuclear missiles. In a separate VOA interview, Brad Glosserman, executive director of Hawaii-based foreign policy institute Pacific Forum, said Chinese leaders “fear that (THAAD) is a weapons system that can be used to neutralize their nuclear deterrent.”
