NBC News:

U.S. plans to install a sophisticated missile-defense system in South Korea could trigger a nuclear showdown similar to the Cuban missile crisis 60 years ago, Chinese state media warned Thursday.

Washington and Seoul announced July 8 a plan to install the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system to counter the increasing threat from North Korea’s missile and nuclear program.

The system’s radar coverage can also be extended to monitor Beijing’s missiles, according to Chinese critics of the plan.

“The negative influence of the deployment of THAAD … is similar to that of the Cuban missile crisis,” warned a commentary piece in government-run China Daily published Thursday. Another editorial in the paper last week described the anti-missile system as a “clear, present and substantive threat to China’s security interests.”

“THAAD can be target of surgical strike,” echoed the Global Times, another state-run newspaper, in an implicit threat to South Korea.

State-run outlets like Global Times and China Daily are often used to reflect the government’s position on issues.

During the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, the U.S. and Soviet Union engaged in a tense 13-day standoff after Soviet nuclear-armed missiles were installed in Cuba, just 90 miles from American shores, prompting fears of all-out nuclear war.