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Commentary: Uncle Sam's hidden agenda behind THAAD deployment

Xinhua, July 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

With the installation of an anti-missile missile system that can hardly cover Seoul but is able to spy on China and Russia's Far East, the United States aims to defend nobody in East Asia, but its insatiable appetite for hegemony and military advantage.

The hidden agenda of Uncle Sam in deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) on the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula is perfectly based on its excuse of a so-called "missile threat" from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is deemed as "rogue state" and "axis of evil" by Washington.

Defending allies from bullying by missiles of a "rogue state" naturally strengthens Washington's moral high ground. Nevertheless, the reality is far less noble than what Uncle Sam portraits.

The fact that THAAD shields all U.S. barracks on the peninsula while leaving Seoul and its surrounding cities housing almost half of the country's population unprotected completely unmasks Uncle Sam's hidden agenda.

For starters, deploying THAAD in South Korea is a crucial step to heal the Achilles heel of Washington's anti-missile missile system in the Asia Pacific, which has long been nagged by its inadequate recognition ability.

With the help of THAAD's X band radar commanding surveillance of an area that extends over 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) from the peninsula, i.e. almost half of China's territory and the southern part of Russia's Far East, the United States can effectively and immediately raise the recognition accuracy.

The second part of Washington's hidden agenda also concerns with the X band radar: If deployed, THAAD could help the U.S. army to collect radar data of warheads and decoys of China and Russia's strategic missiles by monitoring their experiments, thus enable the United States to neutralize their nuclear deterrence.

For all that, deploying THAAD in South Korea to encounter the so-called "missile threat" from a "rogue state" is yet another self-directed and self-acted Hollywood-style drama of Uncle Sam. What lies under the savior's costume is clear and simple -- his strategic anxiety and sateless appetite for supremacy and upper hand. Endi