U.S. Denies Pressing Allies on Missiles That Raised China’s Ire
U.S. Denies Pressing Allies on Missiles That Raised China’s Ire
(Bloomberg) -- Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he isn’t asking allies in Asia to deploy U.S. missiles on their territory, after China warned any country accepting the deployment of intermediate-range American missiles would face retaliation.
Esper made the comments in a tour of Asia-Pacific that includes stops in Australia, Japan and South Korea -- three countries Beijing has warned to avoid hosting missiles. China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that accepting them would be akin to stirring “up troubles at our doorstep” and result in countermeasures. All three are key U.S. allies in Asia and count China as their largest trading partner.
“I have never asked anybody about the deployment of missiles in Asia,” Esper said Tuesday en route to Japan, according to a transcript provided by the Defense Department. “We are quite some ways away from that. It’s going to take, again, a few years to actually have some type of initial operational-capable missiles, whether they are ballistic, cruise -- you name it, to be able to deploy.”
The Trump administration is trying to counter China’s own missile capabilities in the region after formally withdrawing last week from its Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia.
Esper warned of the threat China poses to the region during his talks in Tokyo on Wednesday, accusing it of “militarization of the global commons” as well as economic coercion, intellectual property theft and environmental devastation. “This behavior destabilizes our region,” he said at a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya.
Within Months
As he traveled to Australia on Saturday, Esper told reporters he was in favor of deploying U.S. missiles to Asia within months, without specifying an exact timeline, the type of weapons, or where exactly they would be positioned, the New York Times reported.
But Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled out hosting U.S. missile bases on Monday -- and South Korea, where Esper heads later this week, felt China’s wrath in 2016 after agreeing to accept Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, anti-missile system for defense against North Korea.
“China will not just sit idly by and watch our interests being compromised,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said this week.
While China can target several American allies and territories with intermediate missiles deployed on its own shores, the U.S.’s own options are limited to allies and the tiny territory of Guam. Hua, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, said that any U.S. deployment outside of its own borders would show that “its aim will apparently be offensive.”
The 1987 INF treaty stipulated that the U.S. and Russia would never deploy ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (about 300 to 3,500 miles) -- either nuclear or conventional. The Trump administration formally withdrew after complaining about violations by Russia and a desire to include China in a new accord.
Esper told Iwaya he wanted to discuss capabilities the U.S.-Japan alliance needed to deter and respond to regional threats.
On a separate issue, Esper said earlier he planned to urge Japan to join a U.S.-led coalition to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not rule it out when asked about the idea on Tuesday -- saying he would consider the idea from a broad perspective.
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