China warned the Philippines not to be "extremely irresponsible" by buying an offensive missile system from the U.S., as tensions remain high over the South China Sea.
Gilberto Teodoro, the defense secretary of the Philippines, revealed to the Financial Times on Sunday that his country was considering purchasing the Mid-Range Capability, also known as Typhon, missile launchers from the U.S., which is Manila's security treaty ally.
"Such a move is provocative and dangerous, and it is an extremely irresponsible choice to its own people and people of all Southeast Asian countries, to history, and to regional security," Lin Jian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said on Thursday. If Manila brings in the Typhon, which Beijing views as an offensive strategic weapon, a country outside the South China Sea could fuel "tensions and antagonism" in the region, as well as incite geopolitical confrontation and an arms race.
The Typhon is among the three ground-based missile systems of the U.S. Army, which also include the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon. It can launch two types of anti-surface and anti-air missiles already used by the country's navy: the Tomahawk and the Standard Missile 6.
In April, the U.S. Army deployed a Typhon launcher to northern Luzon in the Philippines for drills, putting targets in southern and eastern China, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait within the sights of the Tomahawk, which has a range of about 1,000 miles.
The Philippines and Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing views as its province, form part of the first island chain, a U.S. defense concept that extends southward from Japan. It aims to leverage allied or friendly territories to contain the Chinese military in the region.
The launcher was planned for departure in September, but the U.S. and the Philippines, which are parties to a mutual defense treaty, decided to keep it in the archipelagic country "indefinitely," allowing forces from both sides to jointly train for the potential usage of it.
The Chinese spokesman urged the Philippines to "correct its wrongdoings" by not proceeding with the Typhon as publicly pledged, and to "stop going further down the wrong path." The South China Sea needs peace and prosperity, but not the missile system, he added.
China has territorial disputes in the South China Sea with the Philippines, where tensions between them have escalated as Manila's efforts, backed by the U.S., to access maritime features in its economic waters have been met with growing resistance from Beijing.
In June, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed that the deployment of the Typhon in the Philippines was about promoting peace and stability. "We're focused on making sure that we can work with others to maintain and free and open Indo-Pacific region," he said.
Besides the Philippines, the U.S. Army said in September that it had expressed interest in having a Typhon unit operate out of Japan, another security treaty ally of Washington.
English (US) ·