China demands immediate halt to THAAD missile system now ‘operational’ in South Korea
As regional tensions soar, Beijing says it will ‘firmly take necessary measures to uphold our interests’
China demanded on Tuesday an immediate halt to a controversial US missile shield hours after Washington announced that the defence system was now operational in South Korea.
Washington and Seoul agreed to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery deployment in July in the wake of a string of North Korean missile tests.
But its deployment has infuriated China, which fears it will weaken its own ballistic missile capabilities and says it upsets the regional security balance.
“We oppose the deployment of the THAAD system in [South Korea] and urge relevant sides to immediately stop the deployment. We will firmly take necessary measures to uphold our interests,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.
Watch: How the North Korea situation intensified in just 12 days
Earlier, North Korea accused the United States of pushing the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war after a pair of strategic US bombers flew over the area in a training drill with the South Korean air force. The two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers were deployed amid rising tensions over North Korea’s dogged pursuit of its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of United Nations sanctions and pressure from the United States.