Tag: missile

Last summer the Pentagon announced its plans to create an advanced missile defense system in the Asian-Pacific region. In the next few years a chain of modern missile defense radars can be deployed from the North of Japan through its Southern islands to the Philippines. Together with the missile systems and the ships the radars will form a joint system that allows intercepting ballistic missiles. “Without acknowledging it, the system is targeted against China. And practically nobody doubts that…[T]he USA is not prepared to acknowledge China as an equal partner and not ready to have a mutual nuclear deterrence or strategic partnership with China…” Leon Panetta, the head of the Pentagon, announced that Japan and the US signed an agreement to deploy the second element of the American missile defense system on Japanese territory. Washington and Tokyo assured China that the missile defense system was not targeted against it. However, experts are convinced that Beijing will view with caution these steps towards deploying a new missile defense element.