The Philippines argue that the presence of the US missile system on its soil is unnecessarily bothering China, which fears that any such missile installations can destabilize the region.
In April, the US deployed an intermediate-range missile system in the Philippines as the two countries enhanced their military collaboration. This deployment became the first of its type in the Indo-Pacific region, which is troubling China due to frequent US-China confrontations in the South China Sea.
While speaking in a recent press conference, Philippines Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo asserted that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently made the situation “very dramatic” as he told him that these deployments are troubling the Asian giant. However, the Philippines secretary told the media that he reassured China that the country should not be worried about this deployment at all.
When asked about what the specific concerns of China regarding the missile system were, Manalo suggested that China is afraid that it could “destabilize” the Indo-Pacific region, but he addressed his concerns by telling him that the system is only present in the Philippines on a temporary basis.
According to US military statements, America deployed these missile systems as part of the joint military drills between the Philippines and the USA. These systems are reportedly capable of firing weapons like the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile and Standard Missile-6 from the American borders to the northern part of the Philippines.
Despite these capabilities, the missile system was not used in the recent drills, and the Philippines has suggested that the system could leave the country as soon as September this year.
The Philippines is a major US ally in the Indo-Pacific and has sided with the US to push back against China’s aggressive military ambitions in the South China Sea. Both the US and the Philippines believe that China aggressively shows its military prowess in the region by capturing Islands located at strategic positions within the South China Sea.
The South China Sea remains one of the biggest flashpoints in the world, and even a tiny bit of miscalculation could result in a full-scale war between the US and China. The situation has worsened in the last two years, as hostile ambitions of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) bring them face-to-face against US allies.
Recently, the Philippines accused China of using bladed weapons and other pointed tools to damage the boats of the Philippines soldiers navigating the contested waters.
