The US plans to deploy missiles on islands in the East China and South China Seas to counter Chinese activity in the region.
This was reported by the Japanese newspaper Nikkei with reference to a document on funding sent by the command of the US armed forces group in the Indo-Pacific region.
According to the publication, the deployment of American missiles will preserve the defense potential of US troops in the event of an attack from China. Thus, it is planned to place the missiles on mobile installations and disperse them to reduce the threat of destruction. In this regard, the US military intends to deploy surface - to-ship missiles with a range of up to 200 km in the region.
In addition, the option of deploying medium-range missiles is being considered. In total, the US authorities plan to allocate a budget of $ 27.3 billion for these purposes over six years.
Japan and China continue to have a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu) in the East China Sea, which escalated in September 2012 after the Tokyo authorities bought them from private owners.
