China urges US, Japan to withdraw Typhon missile system deployment

BEIJING -- China urges the United States and Japan to withdraw the Typhon missile system deployed in Japan as soon as possible as the deployment poses a substantive threat to regional strategic security, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular news briefing that, regardless of China's grave concerns, the United States and Japan insisted on deploying the intermediate-range missile system in Japan under the pretext of joint exercise and training.

China is strongly dissatisfied with and resolutely opposes it, Lin said.

He said that the US?deployment of the missile system in an Asian country harms legitimate security interests of other countries, heightens the risks of an arms race and military confrontation in the region, and poses a substantive threat to regional strategic security.

The United States and Japan should earnestly respect the security concerns of other countries, face up to the request of regional countries, and correct their wrong practices, Lin said.

Due to its history of militarist aggression, Japan's military and security moves have always been viewed with great vigilance by its Asian neighbors and the international community, the spokesperson added.

China urges Japan to reflect deeply on its history of aggression as this year marks the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, Lin said.

Japan should be cautious in its words and deeds in the military and security arenas, avoid assisting villainous acts, and refrain from doing anything that would break the trust of its Asian neighbors or undermine regional peace and stability, he said.