Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian reacts during a regular news briefing in Beijing, on April 29, 2024. - Photo: CHINA'S MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
BEIJING: China urged Tokyo and Washington on Tuesday (Sept 16) to withdraw the US-developed Typhon missile system, after it was unveiled in Japan for the first time during joint military exercises.
Japan and the United States began the "Resolute Dragon" military drills on Thursday, and they will last until Sept 25, Tokyo's defence ministry said on X.
Japan's Self-Defense Forces confirmed to AFP that the missile system had been showcased for the first time in the country over the course of the exercises, though it said the weapon would not be fired.
Beijing's foreign ministry on Tuesday called on the United States and Japan to "promptly withdraw" the missile system.
"The United States and Japan, disregarding China's solemn concerns, have insisted on deploying the Typhon mid-range missile system in Japan under the pretext of joint exercises," spokesman Lin Jian told reporters at a regular briefing.
"China expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to this," he added.
The United States' Typhon missile system is part of the army's long-range precision strike "modernisation portfolio", according to an April report on the US Naval Institute's website.
The system "leverages existing Raytheon-produced SM-6 missiles and Raytheon-produced Tomahawk cruise missiles and modifies them for ground launch", it added.
It is "a truck-based, trailer-loaded system that is able to be employed throughout rugged and austere positions", US Colonel Wade Germann told reporters Monday at an air station in the Japanese city of Iwakuni.
"The deterrent against armed attacks can be enhanced as the security environment surrounding Japan becomes increasingly severe," a spokesperson for Japan's Self-Defense Forces told AFP.
Typhon was deployed in the northern Philippines in 2024 for annual joint exercises.
In December, Manila angered Beijing when it said it planned to acquire the system in a push to secure its maritime interests.
"The United States' deployment of the Typhon system in Asian countries... heightens the risk of a regional arms race and military confrontation, and poses a substantive threat to regional strategic security," Lin said Tuesday. - AFP
