Washington: – The United States announced the withdrawal of the Missile Guidelines imposed on South Korea in the last four decades. This will allow South Korea to develop Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. This announcement was made during the meeting of US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. At the same time, an announcement of cooperation in semiconductor manufacturing also has been made. The Chinese government mouthpiece expressed annoyance regarding this cooperation between the United States and South Korea. South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, visited the United States and met President Joe Biden. The objective of the visit of the South Korean President was to increase cooperation with the United States in the defence, technology and medicine sectors. During the meeting of the two leaders, the decision to withdraw the missile guidelines was announced.
Under the terms of the agreement signed between the United States and South Korea in 1979, it was agreed that South Korea would limit the range of its missiles to 180 kilometres. In exchange, South Korea received defence technologies from the United States. Last year, the then US President, Donald Trump, allowed South Korea to increase its missiles to 800 kilometres, underlining the North Korean threat. But as per the decision taken on Friday, South Korea can develop Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and the missiles launched from submarines. The military analysts claim that this decision breaks the shackles for South Korea and awards complete rights for missile development. As per these military analysts, with the development of the long-range missile, South Korea will be more secured against the threats of North Korea.
The US and South Korean Presidents also agreed on cooperation on the technology front. Both the leaders concurred on increasing collaboration in the extremely important semiconductor development. A few months ago, big automobile manufacturers like Ford and General Motors had to shut down their factories because of the shortage of semiconductors. But it is being claimed that with this cooperation established by President Biden and President Moon, South Korea will contribute in a big way to the supply of the semiconductors necessary for the US industry.
This cooperation in semiconductors has come under criticism from the Chinese government mouthpiece, Global Times, as well as New York Times. As per the US newspaper, South Korea is not a viable alternative for China for the supply of semiconductors required by the US industry.
The Chinese Government mouthpiece criticised that the United States is trying to divide China and South Korea with this cooperation on the semiconductors’ front. The Chinese mouthpiece claimed that still there will be no effect on the China-South Korea relations.
Discussions regarding the East and the South China Sea and Taiwan were also held during the meeting of President Biden and President Moon. The South Korean President gave this information while talking to the media. At the same time, even the White House raised the Taiwan issue in its statement. Both the leaders agreed that it is vital to establish peace and stability in the Gulf of Taiwan. The White House said that both the democratic countries would have to fulfil their responsibility for the security of human rights and regulations.
Taiwan thanked President Biden and President Moon for thinking about the stability in the Taiwanese sector. But this has added to the Chinese restlessness. The Chinese mouthpiece said that the mentioning of Taiwan in the discussions between the Presidents of the US and South Korea is a cause of concern. But the Chinese mouthpiece pointed out that both the Presidents avoided naming China in their entire statement.
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