Beijing to hold live-fire drills, build new weapons to pierce US shield

BEIJING: A US-China confrontation loomed on the horizon as the Chinese defence ministry announced it would hold live-fire drills and test new weapons to counter an anti-missile system deployed next door in South Korea by the United States.

What started as a means to protect South Korea and counter North Korea's military aggression has transformed into a serious confrontation between the US and China.

The US says it was deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence ( THAAD) radar and anti-missile system to protect South Korea against North Korea's aggressive military actions.

However, China believes that THAAD's powerful radar system will keep a close vigil on military formations in China, and endanger its security. “The upcoming `combat test' is meant to safeguard China's security and regional stability,“ Yang Yujun, spokesman for the Chinese defence ministry , told reporters on Friday . The test will involve the People's Liberation Army's Air Force and the Rocket Force, which will simulate two different war-like scenarios as part of an exercise to enhance the military's prepa redness to counter the US built anti-missiles system.

Chinese forces will work on ways to move stealthily without being detected by the THAAD radar. They will also practice and fine-tune the methodology to launch a pre-emptive strike to remove the threat of THAAD in a war scenario, Song Zhongping, a military expert who used to serve in the PLA Rocket Force, was quoted by Beijing-based Global Times as saying. Chinese officials have said Russia might join China to build a system to counter US-built THAAD.

This came even as US President Donald Trump said he wants South Korea to pay for the $1billion THAAD missile defence system.

`Seoul won't be paying for THAAD'

US President Donald Trump's suggestion that Seoul pay for the THAAD missile defence system would be an “impossible option“, a top foreign policy adviser to South Korean presidential frontrunner Moon Jae-in said on Friday. “Even if we purchase THAAD, its main operation would be in the hands of the US,“ said Kim Ki-jung, a foreign policy adviser to Moon.