Commentary
One issue that has received significant attention from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the American Typhon missile system, which the United States has stationed in the Philippines as recently as December 2024 on a rotational basis.
The missile system combines the mature and proven Tomahawk cruise missile, which flies slowly but has a long range (up to 1,550 miles in some variants), with the much faster and more capable SM-6 missile, which can be used against ground, air, and ballistic missile targets more than 200 miles away. The missiles are in what looks like a shipping container, pulled by a large truck.
The response from Beijing has been vocal.
“The Philippines, by cooperating with the United States to introduce the Typhon, is handing over its own security and defense, bringing geopolitical confrontation and arms race risks into the region,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning in a statement.
The American Typhon missiles have been deployed to the Philippines while China and the Philippines are locked in a grappling contest over shoals well within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.
Significant Regional Move
In addition to deploying U.S. Army Typhon missile units to the Philippines, Manila has announced its interest in acquiring the missile system for the Philippine military. The Philippines has defended the deployment of the Typhon.
Gilberto Teodoro, the Philippine defense secretary, responded to Beijing’s assertive statement with his own: “Any deployment and procurement of assets related to the Philippines’ security and defense fall within its own sovereign prerogative and are not subject to any foreign veto.”
Drawing a range fan from central Luzon, the major northern island of the Philippines archipelago, the missiles could strike targets on Hainan, deep into China, and well north of Shanghai. The United States has not deployed ground-based missiles like this since ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCMs) were proposed for Europe during the Ronald Reagan presidency.
The specter of a possible GLCM and Pershing II nuclear deployment brought the Soviets to the table for the now-abandoned Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The Typhon is non-nuclear, but the potential for sharing these missiles with the Philippines and other regional partners is a dramatic change.
Pershing 1A missiles were shared with West Germany with the nuclear warheads under American control. Sharing the Typhon system with the Philippines is a significant regional move and would give the Philippines a formidable, long-range strike capability—a capability it has never had before.
Japan Establishes Long-Range Missile Base
Japan has forward islands just under 80 miles away from Taiwan. Ishigaki, Japan, has now established a long-range missile base with the Type 12 missile that is being improved to reach about 800 miles. The range fan from this installation will overlap much of the range of the Typhon missiles on Luzon in the Philippines.Japan has recently been approved to receive Tomahawk missiles from the United States, which will allow it to project deterrence at an even longer range. With this move, Japan joins the United Kingdom and Australia, which are among the few countries with whom the United States has shared the Tomahawk missile. Japan is also buying the SM-6 missile, putting it in possession of the two missiles that make up the Typhon missile system.
Christine Wormuth, a former secretary of the Army, has said the United States would be interested in seeing the Multi-Domain Task Force operate out of Japan. This task force consists of the Army units that operate the Typhon missile system.
Japanese military leaders have visited and reviewed the Army Multi-Domain Task Force stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, an indicator that they may be interested in packaging their Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles in a similar configuration as the Typhon or acquiring the Typhon truck-mounted system directly. Either way, the reality is that a coalition of missile deterrence is being established to dissuade the Chinese regime from making a move on Taiwan or pursuing other regional misadventures.
A Possible Countermove
Concurrent with this growing response to China, the Chinese regime may be making a countermove to parry the developing range fans of deterrence in the Western Pacific. Beijing announced in June 2023 that it was establishing military training and a military logistics hub in Cuba, 90 miles south of Florida.This is part of “Project 141,” the CCP’s plan to establish a worldwide network of support facilities. This includes facilities in Cambodia, Djibouti, and the United Arab Emirates. The facilities in Cuba are the first overt presence in the Americas, although there is concern over the Chinese regime’s presence in the form of a civil-military fusion in Panama, Venezuela, and the Bahamas.
In 2023, the Biden administration acknowledged the existence of a Chinese spy base in Cuba. Then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) referenced China’s presence during the 2016 presidential campaign and called on Cuba to close down “this Chinese listening station in Bejucal.”
Bejucal played a role in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis as one of the storage locations for hidden Soviet nuclear weapons. More recently, the Chinese spy base footprint in Cuba was identified as having at least four facilities in addition to Bejucal.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
