Expert: US arms sale could change regional balance

The decision by the United States to sell Japan anti-ballistic missiles is aimed at changing military balance in the region, according to a Chinese expert.

The White House has approved a $133.3 million deal, including providing four Standard Missile-3 Block IIA missiles, four MK 29 missile canisters, and other technical, engineering and logistics support services, according to US and Japanese media reports on Wednesday.

Lu Hao, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the move has the characteristics of an arms race and also exacerbates the regional security tension in the Asia-Pacific region.

"It is claimed to meet the rising tension in the Korean Peninsula. But for the long run, it aims to weaken the strategic missile strength of China and Russia," Lu said, adding the arms will enable Japan to further improve its existing three-dimensional anti-missile system and military integration.

The anti-ballistic missile that can be employed on Aegis-class destroyers or on land, via the Aegis Ashore program.

Japan is mulling introducing such missiles in 2021, according to Kyodo News.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the deal with Japan was part of a bigger plan by the US for a "global anti-missile system", CNN reported.

Zakharova called it a breach of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, an arms control deal between Moscow and Washington that has been in force for 30 years.

She added that all these systems have universal missile launchers that can use all types of missiles, which means another violation of the INF treaty. Zakharova called Japan "an accomplice" in this matter, which could strain ties between Russia and Japan.

At his stopover in Hawaii on his way to Washington, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera visited a test site for the Aegis Ashore missile system on Kauai on Tuesday, Kyodo News said.

Aegis Ashore is the land-based version of the missile interception system now deployed on some Japanese vessels. Tokyo plans to station the system at two locations on the Sea of Japan coast with site work starting this year and deployment scheduled for 2023.

Japan this year will also revise the National Defense Program Guidelines, a defense policy document that guides the Midterm Defense Program.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the upcoming NDPG revision will not be considered based on a linear projection of the past evolution of Japanese defense policy. Rather, he added, the revision will be based on an honest assessment of the aggravated security situation that Japan finds itself in today.

The Abe administration approved in December a record defense budget of 5.19 trillion yen ($45.7 billion) for fiscal year 2018, an increase of 1.3 percent over the previous year. The draft budget is expected to be passed by Japan's parliament, which will start its ordinary sessions on Jan 22.

Contact the writer at caihong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/11/2018 page12)