China's strenuous opposition to the possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense asset to South Korea is triggering questions over whether the stated rationale for its objections can be justified in light of its own military buildup, some experts said Tuesday.

Since the talk of stationing the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system here emerged in 2014, Beijing has maintained, "No country shall undermine other countries' security interests while pursuing its own."

But China has recently installed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island, part of the contested Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, and reportedly run long-range radar facilities close to the peninsula that can track military targets in Korea. These moves are seen by many as hurting the security interests of China's neighbors, including South Korea.

"The details of Chinese action are self-contradictory. It is nonsense for China to deploy an air defense (missile) system on Woody Island, claiming it is perfectly justified in doing so, and to claim that the ROK (Republic of Korea) is not justified in deploying THAAD in Korea," said Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst at the U.S.-based think tank Rand Corp.

"North Korea and China both pose a serious missile threat to the ROK, making the ROK fully justified in deploying defenses against the offensive missiles its neighbors have already deployed."

Following Pyongyang's long-range rocket test on Feb. 7, Seoul and Washington announced that they would soon launch official talks over the dispatch of THAAD. China immediately expressed its disapproval, calling on the allies to renounce the plan.

Washington has underscored the defensive nature of the THAAD, saying the interception system, a key element of the U.S.' global multilayered missile shield program, would only target North Korean missiles.

But Beijing claims that a long-range radar system of a THAAD battery could be used to monitor its military activities, and that THAAD could potentially target its missiles. It also argues an additional military asset would aggravate military tensions in East Asia.

Michael Raska, assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said that China has already been escalating military tensions in the region through a set of steps to bolster its own security.

"While China argues that the U.S.' THAAD system in South Korea would degrade its deterrent capabilities, China is also responsible for triggering new vulnerabilities that increase security dilemmas in the South China Sea," he said.

"Beijing’s ongoing maritime expansion in the South China Sea coupled with its increasingly assertive position is escalating tensions in Southeast Asia, forcing the U.S. to redefine its strategic calculus."

China's opposition to THAAD appears to be based on its perception that the defense system is yet another element of the U.S.' military campaign to hem China in and maintain America's geopolitical preponderance in East Asia, analysts said.

"China appears to believe that the U.S. wants to deploy THAAD here as part of its broader campaign to contain or militarily encircle China," said Lee Dong-ryul, China expert at Dongduk Women's University.

"China also thinks THAAD would not be helpful at all in dealing with North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, given that strained ties between the U.S. and China would hamper multilateral cooperation required to resolve the nuclear conundrum."

Other experts like Yang Gab-yong, the head researcher of the Institute of China Studies at Sungkyunkwan University, noted that Beijing may be concerned that THAAD could trigger a military rivalry reminiscent of the Cold War as China, Russia and North Korea oppose it while South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have been pushing for the deployment.

Despite such worries, proponents of the fortified missile defense argue that Seoul should not allow Beijing to intervene in its policymaking, and that defense policy decisions should be insulated from any irrelevant political consideration.

"Indeed, I believe that a major Chinese objective in seeking to stop THAAD deployment to Korea is to set a precedent for influencing South Korea's national security decisions," said Bennett of RAND Corp. "South Korea likely does not want to set a precedent in allowing China to dictate the military capabilities that the ROK can acquire." (Yonhap)