The Philippine government called out China anew for its continued criticisms of the Typhon mid-range capability (MRC), saying it was “deceptive” of them to denounce the missile launcher’s presence in the country when the latter is also increasing its missile inventory.
National Task Force for West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said Friday, Feb. 14, that the Philippines has the sovereign and inherent right to upgrade its defense capabilities in opportunities that it deems appropriate.
“It is in the same spirit that we have not commented on Chinese missiles inventory because we also believe that the PRC [People’s Republic of China] as a sovereign state has also this opportunity or responsibility to also improve their defense capabilities,” said Malaya, an assistant director general at the National Security Council (NSC).
Malaya pointed out that the PRC has conducted “routine military trainings” where it deployed or tested some of their ballistic missiles like the Dongfeng-17 (DF-17), DF-21, and DF-41, which have a range of 1,600 kilometers, 2,150 kilometers, and 15,000 kilometers, respectively.
“At every specific instance that the PRC has conducted these tests, they never heard from us. We never criticized, we never commented even on their continued improvement of their offensive capabilities. So we feel that it is deceptive on the part of the People's Republic of China to comment on our right to improve our defense capabilities and position while they continue to improve their offensive capabilities,” he stressed.
This developed as China reiterated its firm opposition to the presence of the Typhon, a United States-developed missile system, in the country. It is a land-based, ground-launched system that can fire various missiles such as the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), which is designed for striking air or sea targets over 200 kilometers away, and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM), which is capable of hitting long-distance targets.
“As is widely known, Typhon MRC missile system is a strategic offensive weapon, which puts a large number of Southeast Asian countries within its range,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun.
“The U.S. deployment of the system in the Philippines severely damages peace and stability in the region, and harms the legitimate security interests of other countries,” he added.
The Chinese official also accused the Philippines of breaching its commitment to ship out the Typhon after the conclusion of a military exercise with the US.
The Typhon was first deployed by the US military to northern Luzon in April last year for a joint military exercise with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
To this day, it has never been pulled out by the US military, and AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said the military is inclined to procure a similar weapon such as the Typhon. The Philippine Army has been training its soldiers on how to use the missile system.
Malaya clarified that the Philippine government “never promised” the PRC that it will withdraw the Typhon missile system from the country.
“We never made any commitment to the PRC in this regard,” he said.
Instead, Malaya recalled that President Marcos Jr. offered a deal with China on Jan. 30 that the Typhon missile would be returned to the US if Beijing would stop its “illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive” actions in the WPS.
“But when the People's Republic of China was asked about this, there was no, virtually no response, and you can look at the transcripts coming from the press conferences in Beijing. This question was asked point blank and the reply was not responsive,” Malaya said.