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Agence France-Presse

Washington wants to quickly deploy new intermediate-range missiles in Asia, to counter the rise of China in the region, new US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday.
“Yes I would like to,” Esper said when asked if the US was considering deploying new medium-range conventional weapons in Asia now Washington is no longer bound by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.
“We would like to deploy a capability sooner rather than later,” Esper told reporters on a plane to Sydney at the start of a week-long tour of Asia. “I would prefer months … But these things tend to take longer than you expect.”
The new Pentagon chief did not specify where the US intended to deploy these weapons.
Is Sri Lanka the next theatre for the US-China tussle?
“I would not speculate because those things depend on plans, it’s those things you always discuss with your allies,” he said.
Washington withdrew from the INF treaty on Friday after accusing Russia of violating it for years.

Under the pact signed in 1987 by then-US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Washington and Moscow agreed to limit the use of conventional and nuclear medium-range missiles (with a range of 500-5,000 kilometres, 300-3,000 miles).
But its unravelling had been on the cards for months amid worsening ties between Russia and the US.
Washington is now free to compete with China, whose arsenal is largely made up of weapons prohibited under the INF Treaty, to which Beijing was never a signatory.
Esper said China should not be surprised by the US plans.
“That should be no surprise because we have been talking about that for some time now,” he said.
“And I want to say that 80 per cent of their inventory is INF range systems. So that should not surprise that we would want to have a like capability,” he said.
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United States

US wants to quickly deploy new missiles in Asia to counter China: defence chief Mark Esper

The Pentagon chief did not specify where the US intended to deploy the missiles. Photo: AP

epa07747534 US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper hosts a 'salute and tribute' for Egyptian Minister of Defense at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 29 July 2019. Lawmakers confirmed Esper as the new Defense Secretary on 23 July. EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO

Chinese cash: enough to keep East Timor out of Asean?

Boys play near a harbour in Dili, East Timor, as a container ship sails into port. File photo

This photograph taken on March 13, 2012 shows the facade of the East Timor's Government Palace building, housing the office of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, located in the capital Dili. Police uncovered a mysterious mass grave of 52 people at the sprawling beach front compound of the government palace with initial examinations suggesting the bodies are not Timorese, officials said on June 26, 2012. AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD / AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD

LON95D:TIMOR:LIQUICA,EAST TIMOR,27SEP99 - Australian Blackhawk helicopters deploy troops outside the East Timor town of Liquica September 27. Peacekeepers are stepping up operations outside of Dili to begin securing the countryside of East Timor. Liquica is the third city in East Timor that has been secured. clh/POOL/Photo by David Guttenfelder REUTERS

epa06617106 An East Timorese vendor waits for customers on a sidewalk in Dili, East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, 21 March 2018. According to reports, poverty remains one of the major issues that must be faced and solved by the country. EPA-EFE/ANTONIO DASIPARU

LIS09D:TIMOR-PORTUGAL-PROTEST:LISBON,8SEP99 - An East Timor refugee, with his face painted to resemble the national flag, marches in front of demonstrators in Lisbon September 8 supporting an international intervention on East Timor. Chanting "Timor, independence", up to 40,000 people held hands in a 10 km (six mile) human chain that passed in front of the embassies of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, United States, Russia, China, France and Britain. jr/Photo by JoseManuel Ribeiro REUTERS

Timor-Leste's Foreign Affairs minister Jose Luis Gutierrez (R) speaks with Australian lawyer Bernard Collaery Bernard Collaery during an audience of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, on January 20, 2014. Tiny, young East Timor drags its giant neighbour Australia before the United Nations' top court this week in a cloak-and-dagger case with billions of dollars in natural resources at stake. At the heart of the David and Goliath dispute at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is a controversial oil and gas treaty signed by Dili in 2006, shortly after independence from Indonesia. East Timor wants judges at the ICJ, which rules on disputes between states, to order Australia to return documents its intelligence services seized last year relating to Dili's bid to get the treaty torn up. AFP PHOTO / NICOLAS DELAUNAY / AFP PHOTO / NICOLAS DELAUNAY

INF nuclear treaty: US, Russia rip up cold war-era missile pact

An activist holds a mock missile during a demonstration against the ending of the INF treaty in Berlin. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa07752892 (FILE) - Visitors look at Russian tactical ballistic missile OTR-21 Tochka-U (L), 122mm multiple rocket launcher BM-21 Grad (2-L), tactical ballistic missile 9K720 Iskander-M (C) and 300mm multiple rocket launcher BM-30 Smerch (R) during a military exhibition marking the Tank's Day on a tank range in Luga, outside St. Petersburg, Russia, 09 September 2017 (reissued 02 August 2019). US formally withdraws from INF nuclear treaty with Russia on 02 August 2019. EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV

FILE - This undated file photo provided Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017, by Russian Defense Ministry official web site shows a Russian Iskander-K missile launched during a military exercise at a training ground at the Luzhsky Range, near St. Petersburg, Russia. A landmark arms control treaty that President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed three decades ago is dead. The U.S. and Russia both walked away from the deal on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP/File)

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The move is likely to anger China, but the defence secretary said Beijing shouldn’t be surprised by it
The new Pentagon chief did not specify where the US intended to deploy these weapons



The move is likely to anger China, but the defence secretary said Beijing shouldn’t be surprised by it.


Defence

US-China relations

US-China relations: the Asian angle

US wants to quickly deploy new missiles in Asia to counter China: defence chief Mark Esper

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} The move is likely to anger China, but the defence secretary said Beijing shouldn’t be surprised by it The new Pentagon chief did not specify where the US intended to deploy these weapons

The move is likely to anger China, but the defence secretary said Beijing shouldn’t be surprised by it

The new Pentagon chief did not specify where the US intended to deploy these weapons