The “strategic ambiguity” Seoul pursued with regards to the issue of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery on the Korean Peninsula appears to have lost its validity in light of recent developments.

For the past two years, the Park Geun-hye government stuck to its position of “no request, no consultation, no decision.” This stance may have served to buy the administration some time in making a decision, but Seoul is now against a wall as China and the U.S. have begun to publicly raise the issue.

China’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Jianchao opened the salvo on Monday, saying “it would be appreciated if Seoul takes into account China’s concerns and worries.” China views THAAD as a security threat since part of its territory lies within the range covered by the X-band radar component of THAAD.

The very next day, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel shot back at China. Observing that North Korea’s missile program poses a significant threat, Russel said he found it “curious that a third country would presume to make strong representations about a security system that has not been put in place and that is still a matter of theory.” He also said that it was up to Seoul to decide what measures it would take.

On the same day, Seoul also sent a strong message to China, effectively telling the Chinese to mind their own business. Neighbors “should not try to influence our security policy,” a Defense Ministry representative said. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se followed suit, stating that Seoul would decide on the security issue in a way that maximizes its national interests.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson quickly returned fire, saying, “Countries must neither pursue their own security interests at the expense of others nor undermine regional peace and stability.”

The exchange of salvos Monday and Tuesday appears to have been a mere curtain raiser for things to come in the ensuing weeks. On Saturday, the foreign ministers of Korea and China will hold bilateral talks as part of the trilateral talks involving Korea, China and Japan. Judging by China’s persistence in pursuing the issue, THAAD will surely come up in the bilateral talks.

The chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Korea and the U.S. are scheduled to meet in Seoul later this month, another occasion when THAAD could be brought up. Then there is the Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue scheduled to take place in Washington in mid-April when THAAD might be discussed, whether formally or informally.

It is clear that strategic ambiguity will no longer work, given the increased pressure from both the U.S. and China. It is high time that the Park administration made a decision based on careful review of the country’s interests. THAAD deployment is a security issue and needs to be viewed in that light. More foot-dragging on the matter on the pretext of strategic ambiguity might prove to be costly in the end as the country is forced into a decision rather taking a proactive decision based on our own national interests.

The geopolitical environment surrounding the Korean Peninsula has left us vulnerable to the vagaries of international politics between the powerful states in the region. Historically, Korea found itself often caught in the middle between China and Japan. During the Cold War, when Korea remained a hotspot, Seoul and Pyongyang each aligned with a superpower. Today, Korea finds itself sandwiched between the two G2 powers ― the U.S., Korea’s ally and China, Korea’s largest trading partner.

Koreans have often likened themselves to a shrimp whose back is broken in a fight between two whales. The metaphor is an expression of the sense of helplessness and victimhood Koreans felt in the game of geopolitics. However, that no longer has to be. Korea is not a vassal state, and no country exercises suzerainty over it. It is time that Korea decided on its own course of action and was unequivocal about it.