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Minjoo Party lawmaker Song Young-gil (left) shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Jan. 4. (by Kim Oi-hyun

The Chinese government official who is directly responsible for dealing with the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea reportedly made overtly threatening remarks when he met with South Korean corporate executives on a trip to South Korea at the end of 2016. The official is Chen Hai, deputy director general at the Chinese Foreign Ministry‘s Department of Asian Affairs. Since Chen did not meet with officials from South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs during his trip to South Korea, many believe that he intended to stir up a public debate by putting pressure on the fringes of the South Korean government, which still intends to move ahead with the THAAD deployment.

“During a year-end meeting with senior executives from chaebol such as Samsung and Lotte, Chen Hai said that they should prepare for measures approximating the severing of diplomatic ties in the event that THAAD is deployed,” said an official at South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Jan. 4. The Chinese government has reportedly never mentioned the possibility of cutting off diplomatic relations since the administration of President Park Geun-hye announced its plans to deploy THAAD in July 2016.

Another official from South Korea’s Foreign Ministry reported hearing that Chen had told South Korean company executives when THAAD came up in conversation in a previous meeting that “a small country was refusing to listen to a big country,” referring to South Korea and China.

In Nov. 2016, the Chinese government simultaneously ordered an audit of a local affiliate of the Lotte Group and a fire safety inspection of the Lotte Department Store after the Lotte Group agreed to provide land for deploying THAAD, raising suspicions that regulators were deliberately targeting the company. The Chinese also banned charter flights bound for South Korea in January and February and announced plans in Oct. 2016 to ban group tours of South Korea.

But the Chinese government has not taken a clear stance on whether or not it is taking punitive measures, with government spokespeople officially denying any knowledge of a ban on South Korean cultural exports.

“The fact that the Chinese Foreign Ministry officially refuses to confirm punitive measures when asked about the ban on South Korean cultural exports indicates the complexity of China‘s attitude,” said South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Hyoung-zhin in the regular press briefing on Jan. 4. Kim inferred that China does not want to jeopardize its relationship with South Korea.

Park Byeong-gwang, head of the Northeast Asia research division at the Institute for National Security Strategy, offered the following analysis of Chen’s remarks and other ways the Chinese government has responded to THAAD: “China‘s goal is to force the South Korean government to repeal or postpone its plans to deploy THAAD. It is trying to manipulate public opinion and carrying out psychological warfare behind the scenes to trigger internal division in South Korean society with the aim of achieving this goal by default.”

In the meantime, Rep. Song Yeong-gil and six other lawmakers from the opposition Minjoo Party visited China on Jan. 4 and held a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou. Seoul did not hide its displeasure about the fact that the Chinese are trying to win over South Korean politicians, going so far as to enlist Foreign Minister Wang Yi. “It is obvious what China hopes to achieve by meeting opposition party lawmakers while abstaining from any high-level deliberations,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said.

“The Chinese government regards THAAD as a strategic issue that could upset the balance between the US and China in Northeast Asia and even have a negative effect on the South China Sea and Taiwan,” said an expert on China who is familiar with developments in the Chinese government and Communist Party. “China appears to have concluded for now that it does not need to meet the South Korean government, since Seoul keeps saying the same thing.”

“The Chinese said they could not understand why we intended to accelerate the THAAD deployment. They think this is the time to be discussing ways to avoid messing with our key interests in regard to THAAD and a solution to the nuclear issue,” said one member of the delegation to China after meeting with Wang for more than 50 minutes on the evening of Jan. 4.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter and Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent

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