Washington – US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to Japan, South Korea and China later this month amid tensions in the region over North Korea’s “continuing provocative behaviour and actions,” the State Department announced Tuesday.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner announced Tillerson’s trip – his first to the east Asia and Pacific Region since becoming secretary of state. He is scheduled to start the five-day trip on March 15 in Japan.
In each country Tillerson will meet with senior officials to discuss bilateral and multi-lateral issues, “including strategic coordination to address the advancing nuclear and missile threat from North Korea,” Toner said.
Tensions increased in the region earlier Tuesday as the United States began deploying a missile defence system to South Korea, a day after North Korea launched four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.
The news came hours after North Korea said it had carried out a missile launch exercise targeting US bases in Japan.
The installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system has long been opposed by Beijing, which worries that the system could shift the balance of power in the region.
China reacted by saying it “will take necessary measures to maintain [its] security interests” against the anti-missile system, according to Geng Shuang, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Geng said the US and South Korea “should be aware of the consequences” and urged the suspension of the deployment.
Toner told reporters in Washington that THAAD is a defensive system and said the reason the US is pursuing its deployment is because of North Korea’s continued “bad behaviour.”
North Korea continues to carry out tests that “not only threaten the stability of the Korean Peninsula but the region and even the national security of the United States of America.”
The deployment of THAAD has been months in the works, he said.
“We’ve been very clear in our conversation with China that this is not meant to be a threat. It is not a threat to them or any other power of the region,” Toner said. “It is a defensive system and it is in place, or it will be in place because of North Korea’s provocative behaviour.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the US stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Japan and South Korea “in doing what we can to protect that region in particular from an attack from North Korea.”
President Donald Trump spoke with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Monday, he said, adding that the administration “obviously understand the concern of China, but this is a national security issue for [Japan and South Korea].
Tillerson will also seek to reaffirm the administration’s commitment to further broaden and enhance US economic and security interests in the Asia-Pacific Region.
-dpa
