U.S. hopes China will accept missile defense talks
WASHINGTON - A senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday he hopes China will accept an offer by the United States for a technical briefing on the possible deployment of a U.S. THAAD missile defense system to South Korea, which worries Beijing.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was a necessary step by the United States to protect itself and regional allies from North Korea missile attacks.
"We realize China may not believe us and also proposed to go through the technology and specifications with them ...and prepared to explain to what the technology does and what it doesn't do and hopefully they will take us up on that proposal," Blinken told the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington
