China should deploy more missile systems in Northeast Asia if an advanced U.S. missile defense system is deployed in South Korea, a newspaper published by China's Communist Party warned Wednesday, although the U.S. missile system is aimed at strengthening Seoul's defense against Pyongyang's ballistic missile programs.

In the wake of North Korea's latest nuclear test and long-range rocket launch this year, South Korea and the United States are poised to start formal talks on the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in South Korea.

For South Korea, the decision to adopt the U.S. missile system was based on its national-security interests to enhance its defensive posture against North Korea's advances in its nuclear and missile programs.

But China has long voiced opposition to a THAAD battery in South Korea, claiming the missile defense system may target mainland China. 

"Beijing should voice its objection to Seoul's deployment of THAAD. If South Korea insists on doing so, China can take reference from Russia in responding to Eastern European countries' deployment of U.S. anti-missile systems," the state-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial.

"China will install more defensive missiles in Northeast Asia and take the highest-level precautions against the THAAD system," the editorial read.

U.N. Security Council members have yet to agree on a new resolution against North Korea's Jan. 6 nuclear test, with China, one of five veto-wielding council members, reluctant to put crippling sanctions on North Korea.

Winning China's cooperation is the key to enforcing stronger sanctions against North Korea's nuclear and missile programs because China is the North's economic lifeline.

But Beijing has been reluctant to put crippling sanctions on Pyongyang because a sudden collapse of the regime could spark a refugee crisis at its border and lead to a pro-U.S., democratic Korea on its doorstep, analysts say.

In a parliamentary speech on Tuesday, President Park Geun-hye warned that North Korea will face a "regime collapse" if Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear and missile weapons.

The unusually harsh warning by Park against North Korea was viewed as a "complete change in her country's North Korea policy," the Chinese newspaper said in the editorial. (Yonhap)