US anti-missile system threatens China's interests: Beijing

China says the possible US deployment of an anti-missile system to the Korean Peninsula is a threat to China's strategic interests, and Beijing will not allow its “national security interests to be damaged.”

The US military announced last week that it will start formal talks with South Korea on placing the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) on the North Korea's doorstep.

THAAD is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in their terminal phase using a hit-to-kill approach. The Pentagon made the announcement after North Korea launched a long-range rocket carrying what it called a satellite.

Washington says it wants to deploy the anti-missile system THAAD to the Korean Peninsula as a deterrent against North Korea’s ballistic missile program.

"We are firmly opposed to the relevant country's attempts to damage China's strategic and security interests, with the nuclear issue as an excuse," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing on Monday.

China was "seriously concerned about the possible deployment of the THAAD system", he added, saying it "covers a range that is far beyond the needs of defense of the Korean peninsula."

China argues that the THAAD deployment would trigger an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region.

SS