US plans to conduct first missile drill near divisive Okinawa base, countering China’s ballistic weapons
- The drill would reportedly involve a mobile rocket launcher seen as a countermeasure to potential attacks from Chinese surface-to-sea ballistic missiles
- China’s military build-up has unnerved Asian neighbours, with Japan’s defence chief last year saying China was ‘unilaterally escalating’ activities
The US military will this year conduct its first missile drill around the Japanese island of Okinawa, according to a report on Thursday, as Washington seeks to counter an increasingly assertive China.
The US military has told its Japanese counterpart it plans to deploy surface-to-ship missiles in the strategically important Okinawa this year for the first such drill by Japan’s key ally, the Sankei reported, without citing sources.
The drill would involve a mobile rocket launcher seen as a countermeasure to potential attacks from Chinese surface-to-sea ballistic missiles, the paper said.
In recent years, Chinese warships have frequently sailed through waters near Okinawa, where the majority of US troops in Japan are based.
Experts say China’s increasingly active maritime activities are part of a plan to establish control of waters within the so-called “first island chain” that links Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines.
