Japan weighing missile export to Philippines, a move that could test its strained ties with China
Tokyo and Manila have reportedly held informal talks on a possible export of the Type 03 Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile system. The same unit is also slated for deployment on a Japanese island near Taiwan - a move that has drawn Beijing’s ire.
Japan is reportedly weighing the export of its Type 03 Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile system to the Philippines. (File photo: Japan Ground Self-Defense Force)
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TOKYO: Japan is reportedly weighing the export of an air-defence missile system to the Philippines - a potential move that risks further irking China amid a diplomatic row between the East Asian neighbours.
Tokyo has held informal talks with Manila on the possible export of the Type 03 Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile system, Kyodo News reported on Sunday (Nov 30), citing sources. Other Japanese news outlets have carried the report.
The Japanese-developed Type 03 missile system has a range of about 50km and can intercept both aircraft and cruise missiles, according to reports. It is the same system Tokyo plans to deploy on Yonaguni, an island about 110km off Taiwan’s east coast.
A “substantive study” of the export to the Philippines is expected to commence when Tokyo scraps rules limiting defence equipment transfers - a revision that could take place next year, according to the Kyodo News report.
Japan’s current guidelines limit defence equipment exports to security partners for five non-combat purposes - rescue, transport, warning, surveillance and minesweeping.
Manila has expressed interest to Tokyo in acquiring the Type 03 system for its military, Kyodo News reported.
The Philippines is facing heightened friction with China in the disputed South China Sea, where confrontations between their vessels have become more frequent.
Neither the Japanese nor the Philippine government has publicly confirmed the reported discussions on the possible export of the Type 03 missile system.
NEW STRAIN LOOMS OVER JAPAN-CHINA TIES
The potential move will likely draw criticism from China, which is locked in a diplomatic row with Japan over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan in early November.
Takaichi had said that if an emergency in Taiwan entails “battleships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening (Japan’s) survival”, a legal term introduced in 2015 that would allow Japan to deploy its Self-Defense Forces.
Backlash from Beijing - which regards self-ruled Taiwan as an inalienable part of China under its one-China principle - has been fierce and swift, combining travel warnings to Japan and reported curbs on Japanese seafood imports with an escalated wave of state media and nationalist criticism.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told US counterpart Donald Trump in a phone call on Nov 24 that Taiwan's "return to China" at the end of World War II was a key part of Beijing's vision for the world order.
Ties between the two countries are also strained by their long-running territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, with a fresh maritime confrontation taking place on Dec 2.
Late last month, China called Japan’s plan to deploy the Type 03 missile system on Yonaguni “extremely dangerous”, framing it as a deliberate attempt to “create regional tension and provoke military confrontation”.
Tokyo has said the move is for national security.
"We believe that having this unit in place will actually lower the chances of an armed attack against our country,” Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Nov 23.
