Shortly before taking office, new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol released an ambitious 110-point agenda with a surprising omission: It didn’t say anything about Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense batteries, even after Yoon played up the issue throughout his election campaign.

China’s perceptions of THAAD likely factored into the new president’s decision. After Yoon’s election, China’s Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming warned that THAAD is a “taboo word in China-South Korea relations.” Chinese diplomats have undoubtedly expressed the same sentiment to Yoon in private.

If Yoon is downplaying THAAD due to concerns about Beijing’s views, he