Russia, China ask US to give up THAAD, join de-escalation plan

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Jul 05, 2017 06:00 am

MOSCOW: Russia and China joined diplomatic forces yesterday and called on North Korea, South Korea and the United States to sign up to a Chinese de-escalation plan designed to defuse tensions around Pyongyang's missile programme.

The plan would see North Korea suspend its ballistic missile programme and the US and South Korea simultaneously call a moratorium on large-scale missile exercises, both moves aimed at paving the way for multilateral talks.

The initiative was set out in a joint statement from the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries issued shortly after President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks in the Kremlin. Moscow and Beijing used the same declaration to call on Washington to immediately halt deployment of its THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, a move Washington says is necessitated by the North's missile threat. - REUTERS