How China Has Joined Russia in Drawing a Red Line to Prevent U.S. Military Intervention on the Korean Peninsula

How China Has Joined Russia in Drawing a Red Line to Prevent U.S. Military Intervention on the Korean Peninsula



How China Has Joined Russia in Drawing a Red Line to Prevent U.S. Military Intervention on the Korean Peninsula

September-12th-2017

Chinese HQ-16 Air Defence System



In August 2017, amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Russia made large scale deployments of advanced air defence systems and air superiority fighters to its far eastern region with coverage over the whole of North Korea - accompanied by stern warnings that it would not accept any military action against its small neighbour by the United States. China too has more recently begun to deploy its own weapons systems and issue its own warnings that it would intervene to prevent an American attack on its neighbour. The Chinese State newspaper Global Times, with strong affiliations to the Chinese Communist Party, declared in August that should the United States intervene militarily against North Korea China would militarily support the latter against the American attack - a warning that the defence pact between the two countries still held and that an attack on North Korea would entail war with China itself. While initially preoccupied with territorial disputes with India, following the resolution of this conflict China has taken a more active role in militarily deterring US actions against North Korea - deploying its latest air defence systems to its own border with North Korea. These air defence units held drills in early September to prepare for a surprise attack by hostile forces. Whether these forces were expected to be attacking the Chinese themselves or targets on the Korean Peninsula was unspecified, but far more likely referred to the latter of the two. According to the People's Liberation Army, this missile surprise attack was neutralised successfully. The drill, conducted at midnight to test the readiness of air defence crews to respond to attacks at all times, may well have been a signal to the United States that the PLA was ready to intercept attacks on North Korea at any time.

Alongside these air defence drills, the PLA Navy held large drills in the Yellow Sea near North Korea. According to Beijing based naval expert Li Jie, these Naval drills showed that "China is prepared and able to stop any power that threatens stability in the region." These drills, as with the air defence drills, may well have been a signal to the United States that China would not permit it to bring war to East Asia or attack China's neighbors. While the United States was more likely to call the bluff of Russia alone if it dared to shoot down U.S. missiles or aircraft headed for North Korea, with two military superpowers deploying such systems to protect North Korea, neither could be singled out for criticism or reprisals and the risks of striking North Korean targets unprovoked multiplied. Due to the United States' extreme reliance on use of its air and missile forces to wage war on the Korean Peninsula, the prospects of war when the North's airspace is properly defended are unlikely. Should an American attack have taken place Japan and South Korea too would inevitably have been targets of North Korean reprisals - putting both of these countries at serious risk. The deployment of air defence systems to the North Korean border by both China and Russia, and the warnings that both would not accept an attack on the small country, are thereby one of the greatest guarantors of continued peace and of the security of all countries in East Asia - including Japan and both Koreas.







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