Russian, Chinese diplomatic, military officials opposed to plans to deploy U.S. missile defenses in S. Korea
MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - Russian and Chinese diplomatic and military officials have discussed the situation in Northeast Asia in the wake of the nuclear test and the launch of a space rocket by North Korea, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The discussion took place at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday as part of the second round of the Russian-Chinese regular dialogue on security in Northeast Asia. The Russian delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and the Chinese by Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou. The delegations included diplomatic and military experts from the two countries.
The participants in the consultations "had a substantive exchange of opinions on the current status and prospects of an evolution of the security situation in Northeast Asia in light of the DPRK's nuclear test and the launch of a carrier rocket and also the desire of certain powers to take advantage of the negative trends in the development of the situation to break the military balance of forces in their favor," the Foreign Ministry said.
Both parties reaffirmed the need to strictly abide by UN Security Council Resolution 2270 in the interests of the political settlement of the nuclear and other problems of the Korean Peninsula, it said.
"It was stressed that the plans to deploy U.S. THAAD missile defense systems in the Republic of Korea would have a negative effect on the military-political situation in Northeast Asia," it said.
"The parties also shared the opinion that it was unacceptable to slip into confrontation and spin up an arms race in the region. They stressed the need to find an appropriate answer to the emerging challenges and threats to confidence building and the construction of efficient security mechanisms in Northeast Asia," it said.
