US on deployment of more missiles here: Yes, if PH gov’t will allow it
File photo shows the US Army’s Typhon Mid-Range Capability missile system at an undisclosed location in Northern Luzon (USARPAC)
HAWAII — The United States may deploy more missile systems in the Philippines, but only if the country agrees to it, a senior defense official said here, in a move that an expert said would expectedly earn the ire of China amid the “Taiwan question”.
Two American missile systems, which were first used during war games between Manila and Washington, are currently deployed in the Philippines, with recent pronouncements from top military officials suggesting that it will remain for quite some time.
When asked about the possibility of similar missile systems arriving in the coming years, the official said in a Wednesday briefing (Thursday in Manila) at the Indo-Pacific Command headquarters: “If the Philippines government agrees to it, I’d say the answer is yes. If they say no, thanks, then the answer will be no.”
The Typhon midrange capability (MRC) missile system arrived in the country in April last year and has stayed since.
Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief-of-staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. even remarked that the MRC missile should stay in the country permanently.
The antiship missile system NMESIS, or the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, was also deployed last month.
Navy spokesperson Capt. John Percie Alcos said the missile system “will remain here in our country for as long as training opportunities are still there for us.”
‘Targeting dilemma’ for China
“We think ultimately the deployment of Typhon or NMESIS is a very positive thing towards deterrence and war avoidance,” the senior defense official said.
The official said the deployment of missile systems will create a “targeting dilemma” scenario for the Chinese.
“We had a handful of well established bases that aren’t moving, that we operate out of, and they’re really easy to identify and target. Where we’re trying to get to is a whole series of mobile diverse bases that bring threats to the Chinese in ways that they have to identify them,” the official explained.
“They have to track movement, they have to find them in the jungle … It’s finding a couple of missile launchers in northern Luzon. It’s a completely different problem. And so we think in the process of doing that makes conflict less likely, and that’s the critical piece.”
The Typhon missile, capable of hitting targets up to 2,500 kilometers away, was recently spotted in Laoag, Ilocos Norte.
While NMESIS, which is designed to strike surface vessels from land-based positions at a distance of about 185 kilometers, was used in Batanes last month for the Kamandag exercises between the Philippine and US Marines.
The ‘Taiwan question’
Batanes and Ilocos Norte are facing Taiwan, a self-ruled island deemed by China as a renegade province subject to reunification.
Batanes’ northernmost island Mavulis and Laoag City is only about 142 kilometers and just over 400 kilometers away, respectively, from Cape Eluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan.
Taiwan broke away from the Chinese mainland in 1949 following the takeover of the Communist Party, which has not ruled out the usage of force to put the island territory under its control.
A senior fellow at East-West Center said the deployment of such missile systems will have China think twice in invading Taiwan.
“These missiles obviously complicate China’s confidence in thinking that it could succeed in conquering Taiwan by force,” said Chinese foreign policy expert Denny Roy in an interview here on Thursday (Friday in Manila).
“It’s spoiling some Chinese capabilities, not that China already has a major decision to move militarily against Taiwan, but they certainly want the capability,” Roy added.
Aside from deployment of missile systems in Luzon, Manila also allowed Washington access to three of its military bases—two in Cagayan and another one in Isabela—near Taiwan under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca).
These Edca sites irked Beijing, which stressed that the agreement was made so that Washington could “encircle and contain China” which would drag the Philippines into “the Taiwan question,” a claim that was rejected by Manila.
China also repeatedly condemned the deployment of Typhon and NMESIS missiles to the country, deeming it provocative.
Roy said that Beijing’s strong reaction to such development is expected and even “desired” from Washington’s point of view.
“I would certainly understand from the point of view of the Philippines … You have to very carefully weigh the costs and benefits of this kind of cooperation with the United States, but from my point of view, anything that successfully strengthens deterrence against possible Chinese aggression is invariably going to draw that kind of reaction from China, so should not be surprising,” Roy said.
“The Chinese reaction, we’ve already seen, is very strong, very strong complaints,” he said, “and when you see a strong Chinese complaint you should take it as, this is probably having their desired effect from our point of view.”
