A United States Army Mid-Range Capability missile system arrives in Northern Luzon, the Philippines, on April 8, 2024. Captain Ryan DeBooy/U.S. Army
NEWSWEEK | Published February 13, 2025
China will not “sit idly by” as it is threatened by a United States missile system deployed in the Philippines that can target the country from the South China Sea, Beijing warned.
Newsweek has contacted the Pentagon and the Philippine military for comment by email.
Why It Matters
The U.S. Army has deployed a Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile system, also known as Typhon, in the Philippines since April 2024. It can fire two types of missiles for land attack, air defense, and anti-ship missions, striking targets up to 1,000 miles away.
The Typhon was initially deployed for exercises, but both nations later decided to keep it there “indefinitely.” China, which has territorial disputes with the Philippines in the South China Sea, has denounced the U.S. missile deployment as a “highly dangerous move.”
What To Know
The Philippines has breached its commitments to shipping out the Typhon after drills, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun at a press conference on Wednesday.
“This is not only ridiculous but also extremely dangerous,” the spokesperson claimed with reference to remarks made by Philippine defense chief Gilberto Teodoro, who revealed last November that Manila is planning to acquire the Typhon to enhance its capabilities.
In a recent interview with The Japan Times, Teodoro said the plan “is in the pipeline” but did not specify whether the Philippines wants the Typhon or a similar weapon. He refuted China by arguing the plan is aimed at protecting “our territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
The Philippines, which is a U.S. treaty ally, is “introducing geopolitical confrontation and risk of arms race into the region,” the Chinese spokesperson added, accusing the Typhon deployment of harming what he called the “legitimate security interests” of other nations.
The U.S. Army claimed that the missile deployment aimed to enhance Philippine maritime defense capabilities. Following the relocation of the Typhon with the Philippines earlier, the U.S. military said the move did not indicate the Typhon would be there “permanently.”
What People Are Saying
Guo Jiakun, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference: “We call on the Philippines to change its course, and make a strategic choice that truly serves the fundamental interest of itself and its people, rather than staying on the wrong path and hurting the Philippines itself when it comes to issues like Typhon.”
Gilberto Teodoro, the defense secretary of the Philippines, told The Japan Times: “We feel we have the right to field these deterrent capabilities … because we are operating under an open, transparent and democratic governmental system that has shown more maturity and responsibility under international law than the sole objector to us having these capabilities, which is China.”
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen when the Typhon will be removed from the Philippines. It was not clear whether its capability of hitting moving targets will be tested during the deployment.
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SOURCE: www.newsweek.com
RELATED: China says US naval patrol of Taiwan Strait poses security risk
The US Navy described its patrol as a ‘routine’ exercise through the international waterway.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) conducts routine operations in the Taiwan Strait, in September 2023 [Handout/US Navy via AP Photo]
AL JAZEERA | Published February 13, 2025
China’s military has accused the United States of engaging in risky behaviour in the Taiwan Strait after two US naval ships transited the international waterway.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it had monitored the movements of the USS Ralph Johnson, a naval destroyer, and the USNS Bowditch, a survey ship, as they moved through the waterway between Monday and Wednesday.
“The US action sends the wrong signals and increases security risks,” the Eastern Theatre Command of the PLA said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Troops in the theatre are on high alert at all times and are resolute in defending national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability,” Eastern Theatre spokesperson Colonel Li Xi said.
The US Navy later confirmed the movement of the two vessels through the strait, which they described as “routine” exercises.
“The transit occurred through a corridor in the Taiwan Strait that is beyond any coastal state’s territorial seas,” said Navy Commander Matthew Comer, a spokesperson at the US military’s Indo-Pacific Command.
“Within this corridor, all nations enjoy high-seas freedom of navigation, overflight, and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to these freedoms,” Comer said.
Taiwan’s defence ministry also said they had monitored the patrol, but it had proceeded as normal.
US naval ships regularly conduct freedom of navigation exercises through the 180km-wide (111 miles) Taiwan Strait, although the navy’s patrol this week was the first of its kind since US President Donald Trump took office in January.
China claims the Taiwan Strait as domestic territory, although the UN Law of the Sea caps “territorial waters” at 12 nautical miles (22km) from the coastline.
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SOURCE: www.aljazeera.com
