This week, China warned the Philippines was risking an “ arms race ” after the latter said it planned to acquire the US Typhon missile system to protect its maritime interests.“The introduction of the mid-range missile system… by the Philippines is a provocative and dangerous move,” China foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning in a knee-jerk reaction said, warning the move “instigates geopolitical confrontation and an arms race .
” On Monday the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,107 islands, said it planned to acquire the US Typhon missile system to help secure its marine interests and oceangoing vessels. The land-based “mid-range capability” Typhon, developed by the US firm Lockheed Martin for the US Army, has a range of 480 kilometers. A longer-range version is being developed. The US Army deployed the mid-range missile system in northern Philippines earlier this year for annual joint military exercises with its longtime ally, and decided to leave it there despite criticism by Beijing that it was destabilizing to Asia. Philippine military officials said the Typhon system would be able to protect vessels within the country’s 200-mile or 322-kilometer exclusive economic zone, the limit of its maritime entitlement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro could not have been more right when, reacting to China’s contentious stance, he said “The Philippines is a sovereign state, not any country’s ‘doorstep’.” “Any deployment and procurement of assets related to the Philippines’ security and defense fall within its own sovereign prerogative and are not subject to any foreign veto,” he said in a statement. Teodoro underlined that the country’s defense “is not targeted against specific countries” while asking China to stop its provocative actions (and) halt its interference in other countries’ internal affair
China Philippines Typhon Missile System Maritime Security Arms Race
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