THAAD deployment threat stokes US tensions with Beijing, Moscow

The U.S. decision to send equipment needed to set up a controversial missile defense system in South Korea is likely to add to the tensions among Beijing and Moscow, countries that have spoken out in the past about deploying the system.

China said Tuesday that it will take measures against US missile system deployed in S. Korea, says US and Seoul will bear consequences.

Lou Yuan, an outspoken, retired Chinese general, wrote in the Global Times, a state-run paper, that the Chinese military “could conduct a surgical hard-kill operation that would destroy the target, paralyzing it and making it unable to hit back,” The New York Times reported.

He went on, “Since the United States, Japan and South Korea choose not to respect China’s major security concerns, China does not need to be a gentleman on everything."

Washington and Seoul says the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, is not meant to be a threat to China or Russia. The U.S. military said in a statement that THAAD can intercept and destroy short and medium range ballistic missiles during the last part of their flights.

Source: FoxNews.