South Korea and the United States have replied to China's increasingly rabid responses to the deployment of the U.S.-made Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system by staging a two-month long military exercise intended to "increase readiness to defend South Korea."
The Republic of Korea Armed Forces (ROKAF) and United States Force Korea (USFK) on March 1 launched "Foal Eagle 2017," a combined arms exercise on the Korean Peninsula slated to end on April 30.
China immediately criticized the exercise, which is one of the largest of its kind in the world. It expressed its "serious concern to parties involved in the joint military drill" by South Korea and the U.S., "which brought the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and other U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula."
The exercise will see the deployment of 3,600 more personnel of the U.S. armed forces to South Korea to reinforce the 28,000 troops already under the command of USFK. Observers noted the large and dramatic increase in U.S. troop numbers might also be intended to send the message the U.S. will defend against any Chinese military response targeting THAAD.
Foal Eagle 2017 is a series of joint and combined ground, air, naval and special operations field exercises, designed in the spirit of the U.S.-South Korean mutual defense treaty of 1953. These exercises are defensive in nature, and have been carried out regularly, openly and transparently for nearly 40 years, according to USFK.
Foal Eagle 2017 is designed to "increase readiness to defend South Korea, to protect the region, and to maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula," said Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis.
Foal is described by the Pentagon as a combined Field Training Exercise (FTX) conducted annually by the ROKAF and USFK under the control of the Combined Forces Command. It's one of the largest military exercises conducted annually in the world.
The primary purpose of Foal Eagle is to demonstrate South Korean-U.S. military resolve to deter war on the Korean peninsula and to improve the combined and joint operational posture of those forceSouth Korean and U.S. Forces.