Statement BY SASC Chairman John McCain on Chinese Bullying of South Korea

Statement

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement today on Chinese bullying of South Korea:

"Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a hollow lecture on the importance of free trade. The communist leader even invoked Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, an allusion that can only be explained by either a supreme lack of self-awareness or willful hypocrisy.

"Meanwhile, China is escalating its campaign of economic retaliation against South Korea for the joint alliance decision to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to the Korean Peninsula to defend against the escalating North Korean threat. China has cut off charter flights from South Korea, banned imports of South Korean cosmetics and other products, outlawed South Korean music, and threatened South Korean companies. China has done all of this to stop the deployment of a missile defense system, which is only necessary because China has aided and abetted North Korea for decades.

"Actions speak louder than words. If China believes in free trade and has genuine concerns about the deployment of THAAD in South Korea, it should cease its attempts to undermine South Korea's sovereign ability to defend itself and use its considerable influence to pressure North Korea to stop its destabilizing behavior."

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