The United States is asking Japan for permission to deploy LRHW hypersonic missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles on its soil to counter China, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported on February 4.
According to the newspaper, we are talking about LRHW hypersonic missiles and about 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles. While it is not known exactly where they may be placed, one possible location is the island of Kyushu in the south of the country.
Such measures are generally seen as part of China’s containment strategy. The weapons will reportedly be deployed on the so-called first chain of islands blocking China’s access to the Pacific Ocean.
According to the publication, the United States began working on this issue with Japan three to four years ago. At the same time, as said, Tokyo looks positively at this initiative and wants to agree to the deployment of missiles. At the same time, Sankei points out that this issue was not raised in the recent meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden, nor in consultations with the heads of the US Foreign and Defense ministries. two countries in January.
The newspaper writes that, according to the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, the United States did not have land-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 km, while China has more than a thousand. In 2019, the US suspended its obligations under the treaty. After that, Washington is looking to develop medium-range missiles (particularly hypersonic) for deployment this year, the newspaper notes.
Recall that two weeks ago, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the United States abandoned plans to deploy medium-range missiles in Japan. Washington reportedly considers it sufficient to contain China as part of Tokyo’s own plans to deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles and increase the range of existing Japanese Type 12 missiles. A few days later, however, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh denied these reports.
“I have seen reports that the ministry has no plans to deploy assets in Japan that have a range of more than 500km. I would dispute these messages. The press inference regarding the medium-range missiles you asked about is incorrect.”a Pentagon spokeswoman said.
However, no details were given.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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