BEIJING — China warned on Tuesday of “consequences” for South Korea and the United States over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system.
In Seoul, officials said they expected retaliatory moves against South Korean businesses. China’s Foreign Ministry did not specify any actions against the United States, but Beijing’s displeasure marked an abrupt change in tone after a generally cautious approach toward the new U.S. president.
The U.S. military began deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system to South Korea on Monday, the same day North Korea launched four missiles that landed off the Japanese coast.
The United States and South Korea say the system is a necessary defense against Kim Jong Un’s government in North Korea, but Beijing rejects the argument. It has said it sees the system as a threat to the Chinese military and evidence of U.S. “meddling” in East Asian affairs.
“I want to emphasize that we firmly oppose the deployment of THAAD,” said Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, at a daily news briefing Tuesday in Beijing. Geng used an acronym to refer to the missile defense system. “We will resolutely take necessary measures to defend our security interests.
“All consequences entailed from this will be borne by the U.S. and the Republic of Korea,” he said.
Geng did not provide details on what “consequences” are in store for either country, but China has already been moving to restrict Korean businesses, and those restrictions are expected to tighten.
Experts say China could send Chinese coast guard ships to escort fishing boats into waters claimed by South Korea or send military aircraft and ships into South Korean air and sea space. They also suggest that China might do less to restrain North Korea from provocative behavior.
Russia has supported China’s opposition to the system. Militarily, Russia and China could deploy more missiles, especially those with maneuverable warheads to overwhelm the defense system, along with the use of decoys and attempts to jam the system, analysts say.
On Tuesday, China’s Global Times, a tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s flagship, People’s Daily, criticized North Korea over its missile tests.
“By firing four missiles at once this time, the military confrontation between Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington escalates a notch,” the newspaper said. “Noticeably, the Chinese public is angry that Pyongyang’s nuclear program has provided an excuse for Seoul to deploy THAAD.”
An official from South Korea’s Defense Ministry who didn’t want to be named, citing office rules, said the equipment that arrived in South Korea included launchers but didn’t confirm how many.
While South Korean media speculate that the defense system’s deployment could be completed as early as April, the ministry official couldn’t confirm those reports. The official said the plan was to have the system operational as soon as possible.
The North’s state media said Tuesday that Kim supervised a ballistic rocket launching drill, a report that is consistent with the four launches reported by Seoul and Tokyo. Involved in the drills were artillery units tasked with striking “U.S. imperialist aggressor forces in Japan,” according to the Korean Central News Agency.
There was pride and defiance among the citizens who live in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang.
“If the U.S. imperialists and their South Korean puppets shoot even just one spark into our sovereign territory, we will completely destroy those aggressors, without any mercy, with our invincible Hwasong artillery, which are loaded with nuclear warheads,” said Sim Chol Su, echoing the propaganda often found in state media.
Information for this article was contributed by Emily Rauhala, Anna Fifield, Congcong Zhang and Jin Xin of The Washington Post; and by Kim Tong-Hyung, Chris Bodeen, Gillian Wong and Matthew Pennington of The Associated Press.