MANILA, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- China urges South Korea to stop further deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and make efforts to improve their relations by removing the stumbling block between them, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Sunday.
Wang made the remarks while meeting with his South Korean counterpart on the sidelines of a series of ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings in Manila.
Wang said that it is very important to maintain communications between China and South Korea as they are neighbors and relevant parties to the Korean Peninsula issue.
He mentioned that South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed his willingness to take care of each other's rightful concerns and try his best to improve the two countries' relationship after he took office.
However, Moon's hasty order of further deployment of the THAAD missile interception system recently has cooled down the momentum of the improvement of bilateral relations, Wang pointed out.
Wang said the deployment of THAAD goes beyond the defense need of South Korea and damages China's strategic security interest, which is neither the way that neighboring countries get along with nor the principle that strategic partners should follow.
Read the full story at Xinhua