SEOUL: South Korea’s government stressed on Wednesday it would make its own decisions in strengthening its defenses against North Korean threats, rejecting Chinese calls that it continues the policies of Seoul’s previous government that refrained from adding more United States anti-missile batteries that Beijing strongly opposes.

The differences between South Korea and China underscored a reemerging rift between the countries just a day after their top diplomats met in eastern China and expressed hope that the issue wouldn’t become a “stumbling stone” in relations.

Bilateral ties took a significant hit in 2017, when South Korea installed a missile battery employing the US Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system in response to nuclear and missile threats from the North.

The decision drew an angry reaction from China, which said the anti-missile system could be reconfigured to peer into its territory. Beijing retaliated by suspending Chinese group tours to South Korea and obliterating the China business of South Korean supermarket giant Lotte, which had provided land for the missile system.

Former South Korean president Moon Jae-in, a liberal who pursued engagement with North Korea, tried to repair relations with Beijing by pledging the “Three Nos” — that Seoul wouldn’t deploy any additional Thaad systems, wouldn’t participate in US-led missile defense networks, and wouldn’t form a trilateral military alliance with Washington and Tokyo.

Moon’s dovish approach has been discarded by his conservative successor, Yoon Suk Yeol, who has vowed stronger security cooperation with Washington and expressed a willingness to acquire more Thaad batteries to counter accelerating North Korean efforts to expand its nuclear weapon and missile programs.

Commenting on Tuesday’s meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his South Korean counterpart Park Jin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin in a briefing on Wednesday reaffirmed Beijing’s stance that the Thaad system in South Korea undermines its “strategic security interests.”

He added that Seoul had committed to a policy of “Three Nos and One Limit,” the latter apparently referring to a pledge to limit the operations of the Thaad battery already in place, something Seoul has never publicly acknowledged.

“The two foreign ministers had another in-depth exchange of views on the Thaad issue, making clear their respective positions and enhancing mutual understanding,” Wang said. He added that the ministers agreed to “attach importance to each other’s legitimate concerns and to continue to handle and control the issue prudently” to prevent it from becoming a “stumbling stone” in bilateral relations.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it understood that Wang was referring to the policies of the Moon government with the “Three Nos and One Limit” remark.

It said the Yoon government had maintained that Thaad was a defensive tool for protecting South Korean lives and property and a national security matter that Seoul wasn’t willing to negotiate with Beijing. It also insisted that the “Three Nos” were never a formal agreement or promise.

South Korea, a longtime US ally, has struggled to strike a balance between Washington and the increasingly assertive foreign policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government.

Deepening conflicts between Washington and Beijing over a broad range of issues including Taiwan, Hong Kong, trade and Chinese claims to large sections of South China and East China Seas have increased fears in Seoul that it would become squeezed between its treaty ally and largest trading partner.