WNAM MONITORING: China on Friday said the US’ plan to deploy the Typhon missile system to Japan for a joint exercise is a “threat to regional strategic security.”
“China always opposes the US deploying the Typhon Mid-Range Capability missile system in Asian countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said during a news conference, according to a transcript by the ministry.
The American military newspaper, Stars and Stripes, on Friday reported, citing US Army Pacific spokesman Col. Isaac Taylor, that Washington, DC, would deploy the missile system, which “provides a complementary capability to existing US and Japanese systems,” for the Resolute Dragon 25, running from September 11 to 25, for the first time.
The system will be positioned at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Yamaguchi province, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Hiroshima.
The deployment of the system, which can fire multipurpose missiles over long distances, “will further undermine the legitimate security interests of other countries and pose a substantive threat to regional strategic security,” Guo said.
The spokesman urged Washington, DC, and Tokyo to “respect other countries’ security concerns” and refrain from the deployment.
Guo called upon Tokyo to refrain from “further losing the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community,” while also urging Washington, DC, to “devote more effort and resources to doing the right thing rather than the other way around.”
A media report by Jiji Press on Wednesday had said that the US was also considering the deployment of its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) on a remote island in Japan’s southern prefecture of Okinawa for a joint military exercise.
Japan, one of the US’s oldest allies in the Asia-Pacific region since World War II, has increased its defensive capabilities amid China’s increased influence in the region.
It also hosts thousands of American soldiers besides military bases and weaponry.
