According to Hacked Email, US to Ring China With Missile Defense

According to hacked email messages, US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said the United States had cautioned Beijing it would surround China with missile defense unless it did more to rein in North Korea’s missile program. She said this in an exclusive speech to bank executives three years.

Clinton said in a speech to Godman Sachs on June 4, 2013 that the implication to China had been, “You either control them, or we’re going to have to defend against them.” This was taken from a supposed Clinton campaign document. The file was appended to an email published by Wikileaks.

The authenticity of the leaked email was impossible to confirm. Further, the Clinton campaign has neither confirmed nor denied the validity of hacked emails.

On Friday, the State Department refused to comment on “alleged leaked documents”. An official remarked that to comment publicly on diplomatic discussions was not department policy.

According to the hacked email, the Democratic presidential candidate said in a speech that Washington could not tolerate a situation in which North Korea developed an inter-continental ballistic missile that can carry a miniaturized warhead.

She said that this could compromise treaty allies South Korea and Japan. Moreover, this could reach Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States.

“We’re going to ring China with missile defense. We’re going to put more of our fleet in the area. So China, come on. You either control them, or we’re going to have to defend against them,” Clinton said, according to the email.

China says THAAD radar a security risk

Plans revealed this year by South Korea and United States to set up the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system has angered China. The anti-missile defense system is aimed to defend against the threat posed by North Korean missiles.

Beijing is worried that the system’s powerful radar would pose a risk to its security. The United States, however, has reasoned THAAD is not intended at restraining China.

In February, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the United States had made apparent that resolving the North Korean nuclear issue is the way to avert THAAD deployment.

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