Media outlets in South Korea might be too sensitive over trade issues with China by connecting a simple decision from China to deny entry for some unqualified South Korean cosmetics products to the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea, a Chinese expert said Wednesday.
Some South Korean media reports have suggested that China banned imports of some South Korean cosmetics products in response to the country's decision to allow the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery.
China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) last week issued a list of food and cosmetics products from about a dozen countries and regions that were denied entry to the Chinese market due to quality issues, including 19 types of cosmetics from South Korea.
The move against the cosmetics products is "regarded as part of economic retaliation by China, which includes bans on K-pop and K-drama stars and chartered flights between the two countries," the Korea Times reported Tuesday.
The AQSIQ did not respond to a faxed request of the Global Times for comments as of press time on Wednesday.
But it is "a bit of a stretch" for South Korean media to suggest that China is retaliating against South Korea for deployment of the THAAD system by just banning some cosmetics products, Lü Chao, a research fellow with the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
"So far, the trade relationship between China and South Korea is going on as normal, and there is no need to relate any trade issue to the THAAD issue," Lü said. "I think they are like birds startled by the mere twang of a bow-string; overly sensitive of the THAAD issue."
While it is unnecessary to connect every issue between China and South Korean to the THAAD issue, "there should be no doubt about China's strong opposition to the deployment of THAAD in South Korea, and we will take counter measures," Lü warned.
