US to send more missile capable warships to Japan

The United States has announced plans for sending two more ballistic missile capable warships to Japan in order to counter what it calls threats from North Korea. Speaking at a news conference at Japan’s defense ministry, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Washington will deploy the two additional destroyers to Japan by 2017. “In response to Pyongyang's pattern of provocative and destabilizing actions ... I can announce today that the United States is planning to forward-deploy two additional AEGIS ballistic missile defense ships to Japan,” the Pentagon chief said on Sunday after a meeting with Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera. The deployment of the two additional warships will bring Washington’s Japan-based fleet of destroyers equipped with ballistic missile systems to seven. This comes as North Korea has accused Washington of being provocative and seeking regime change and has warned that it will take countermeasures. Hagel also called China a “great power” and said he would ask Beijing to have respect for its neighbors when he travels to China later this week. “With this power comes new and wider responsibilities as to how you use that power,” he said. The Pentagon chief’s remarks were made one day after he said Washington is strongly committed to protecting Japan, adding that both the US and its ally Japan are worried that Crimea’s reintegration into Russia could reverberate in Asia where Beijing and Tokyo are in a territorial dispute over islands in the East China Sea. On Thursday, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel also warned that Washington will stand by its allies against China in territorial disputes over islands in the South China Sea. Beijing has claimed around 90 percent of the 3.5 million square km South China Sea while some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan – also have claims over parts of the area. China says its claim has a solid historic and legal basis. Russel also threatened China with economic sanctions in case Beijing “might contemplate the Crimea annexation as a model” and said US sanctions against China could have a “chilling effect on” the country. ISH/ISH