How China, Russia can counter THAAD threat

The United States is busy preparing to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system in the Republic of Korea ignoring the strong protests by China and Russia, which justifiably say it will pose a strategic threat to their security. And the US-led NATO is consolidating its presence in Eastern Europe. What are the motives behind these chessboard moves?

At the turn of the new century, the US began its largest strategic adjustment since the end of the Cold War, shifting its strategic focus from Europe and the Atlantic to the Asia-Pacific. Right after George W. Bush took office as US president, his administration made the decision to change the oversea deployment pattern of the US military, from the previous 60 percent for Europe and 40 percent for the Asia-Pacific to 50 percent each for the two regions. It also listed China as a major competitor for the first time. The Bush administration failed to make the strategic adjustment only because of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks and the "war on terror" that followed.

Ever since President Barack Obama entered the White House he has been determined to advance the "pivot to Asia" strategy to overcome the "threat" China's rise poses to the US' hegemony in the Western Pacific. The Obama administration's strategic push has continued uninterrupted despite the political turbulence in the Middle East, the Ukraine crisis and the rise of the Islamic State. NATO's eastward expansion and "pivot to Asia" both are the result of the change in the established international order and the US' altered strategic perception, and they reflect the change in its strategic focus at different times.