Several prominent East Asia experts declared South Korean president Moon Jae-in’s decision to suspend the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antimissile system a big win for China.
Ely Ratner, a former advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, tweeted “China successfully coerces U.S. ally while U.S. has no ambassador, and no assistant secretary of Defense or State.” Tweets by Mira Rapp-Hooper, Abraham Denmark, and Kelly Magsamen echo Ratner’s view that Chinese pressure on South Korea is tied to Moon’s suspension decision. Such assessments are rooted in well-document evidence of China’s opposition to the THAAD deployment and its campaign of economic pressure against South Korea.
The argument that the THAAD suspension is a result of Chinese coercion is not without merit, but this emerging consensus ignores an alternative explanation for Moon’s decision based on domestic politics in South Korea. It is important to take domestic factors surrounding the THAAD deployment and current suspension into account as they may paint a more accurate picture of the decision to suspend the deployment.