Patriot Missiles, North Korea and Japan...

[American Patriot]

Patriot missiles believed to have arrived
The Japan Times ^ | October 12, 2006 | Japan Times Staff


CARGO UNLOADED UNDER TIGHT SECURITY


NAHA, Okinawa Pref. (Kyodo) U.S. forces transferred Wednesday what is believed to be missiles for a U.S.-led missile defense system from a freighter in Urama, Okinawa, to the U.S. Air Force Kadena Ammunition Storage Area in the prefecture.


On Wednesday morning, U.S. service members and other workers unloaded the cargo, which arrived Monday, after police cleared the route of civic groups that had blocked the road in protest of the deployment of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor system.


The United States plans to begin partial operation of the PAC-3 system at the U.S. Kadena Air Base and the Kadena Ammunition Storage Area by the end of December, deploying all 24 missiles in the system, according to the U.S. military.


While the cargo was being transferred onto dozens of trailers from the freighter at the U.S. Navy's Tengan Pier in Uruma, members of civic groups shouted from outside the pier's gate, "We will not allow the PAC-3 system to be deployed in Okinawa."


Meanwhile, Yoritaka Hanashiro, head of the executive office of Gov. Keiichi Inamine, expressed the office's displeasure, saying the U.S. government had not given a sufficient reason to the public for the missile defense system's deployment in the prefecture.


"Deploying the PAC-3 system before definite steps are taken to reduce the burden of the Kadena Base cannot win the understanding of local people, and it is regrettable," Hanashiro told a prefectural assembly session about the U.S. bases.


The missiles are being deployed as part of the agreement reached in May between the central government and Washington on the realignment of the U.S. military in Japan.


The PAC-3 system is designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles in their final phase, once they have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and have descended to altitudes of just over 12 km, according to Japanese officials.


The move came just days after North Korea declared it had conducted a nuclear test Monday. In July, Pyongyang also test-fired seven missiles into the Sea of Japan.


Don't dally: Nakagawa


Kyodo News Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa said Wednesday that Japan should expedite efforts to set up a missile defense system in connection with North Korea's announcement Monday that it conducted an underground nuclear test.


Speaking at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Nakagawa also denied the possibility that the country would pursue nuclear arms, backing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's remarks to that effect made during an Upper House Budget Committee session Tuesday.


Nakagawa also hailed Abe's summits Sunday and Monday with Chinese and South Korean leaders, saying the talks made it possible for Japan to mend soured ties with its neighbors and pave the way for mutually beneficial ties.
No Japan nukes: Rice


WASHINGTON (Kyodo) U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that Japan might develop nuclear weapons in the wake of North Korea's atomic test, saying she trusts Tokyo as a security partner.


"There's no evidence that this is a position that has any particular purchase in the Japanese system, or certainly among the Japanese population," Rice said in an interview on Fox News.


Rice made the comments when asked about suggestions by U.S. experts and lawmakers that Monday's nuclear test by North Korea could lead to a nuclear arms race in Asia, with Japan and South Korea going nuclear in response.


Some have even advocated holding out the threat of a nuclear Japan as a way to pressure China into pushing North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.


"I don't think there's anybody that really thinks changing the nuclear balance in Northeast Asia by having Japan go nuclear would improve the security situation," Rice said.


"We trust the Japanese. They're our security partner."


But Rice acknowledged that North Korea's emergence as a nuclear power "could set off all kinds of effects in the region," which is one reason why China has condemned the test and accepted possible U.N. sanctions against the North.


The Japan Times (C) All rights reservedArticle 2 of 10 in National news
Photo: Police guard the road Wednesday morning outside the U.S. Navy's Tengan Pier as a truck loaded with what is believed to be Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles heads for the U.S. Air Force Kadena Ammunition Storage Area. KYODO PHOTO

[American Patriot]

more missiles

U.S. to send 2 more missile defense ships to Japan to protect from North Korea

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian, CNN
updated 8:20 AM EDT, Mon April 7, 2014


The Navy is planning to forward-deploy two additional AEGIS ballistic missile defense ships to Japan by 2017. Shown here is the USS Lake Erie, an example of that kind of ship.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Defense Secretary says U.S. will send 2 more missile defense ships
• Move is part of an effort to bolster protection from N.Korean missile threats
• Chuck Hagel is on visit to Tokyo, to travel to Beijing

(CNN) -- The United States will send more missile defense ships to Japan, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Sunday, as part of an effort to bolster protection from North Korean missile threats.
North Korea has carried out a series of missile launches in recent weeks and has warned it was preparing to test another nuclear device, prompting fresh criticism from the United States.
Speaking during a visit to Tokyo, Hagel announced that two Navy destroyers equipped with missile defense systems would be deployed to Japan by 2017.
"A key focus for our talks today was the threat posed by North Korea," Hagel told reporters after he met with Japan's defense and foreign ministers.
"In response to Pyongyang's pattern of provocative and destabilizing actions, including recent missile launches in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, I can announce today that the United States is planning to forward-deploy two additional AEGIS ballistic missile defense ships to Japan by 2017. This will bring our Japan-based fleet of BMD-capable ships to a total of seven."
The announcement followed other steps taken by the Pentagon to bolster its military posture in Japan, including an October decision to establish a second missile defense radar site in Kyoto prefecture.
"These steps will greatly enhance our ability to defend both Japan and the U.S. homeland from North Korean ballistic missile threats," Hagel said.
South Korea investigates two suspected North Korean drones
"Great power"
Hagel also addressed territorial disputes between China and its neighbors.
Relations between China and Japan are under strain over a territorial row involving a set of small, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, which has led to frequent tense encounters between the two sides' ships and planes in recent times.
"Great powers have great responsibilities, and China is a great power," Hagel said.
"And with this power comes new and wider responsibilities as to how you use that power, how do you employ that military power. And I want to talk with the Chinese about all of that. Particularly, transparency ... The more transparent and open governments can be with each other, the better for everyone. That avoids miscalculation, misinterpretation, misunderstanding, and hopefully that lowers the risks of conflict."
Hagel leaves for Beijing on Monday.

[American Patriot]

U.S., in nod to Tokyo, to send more ships to Japan, prods China

By Phil Stewart and Nobuhiro Kubo
TOKYO Sun Apr 6, 2014 3:24am EDT

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1 of 2. U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R) and his Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera attend their joint news conference at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo April 6, 2014. The United States will deploy two additional destroyers equipped with missile defense systems to Japan by 2017, in a move Hagel said on Sunday was a response in part to North Korean missile launches that have alarmed the region.
Credit: Reuters/Issei Kato




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• Defense chief prods 'great power' China to respect neighbors

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(Reuters) - The United States moved on Sunday to reassure Tokyo over its mounting security concerns, saying it would send more missile defense ships to Japan following North Korean launches and use a high level trip to warn China against abusing its "great power."
Japan has watched with alarm in recent weeks as North Korea carried out a series of missile launches, including firing two medium-range missiles capable of hitting the U.S. ally.
Tokyo has also voiced growing anxiety over China's military buildup and increasingly assertive behavior in a territorial dispute over East China Sea islands.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that two Navy destroyers equipped with missile defense systems would be deployed to Japan by 2017. It was a response, he said, to provocations from the North, which has also threatened to carry out a "new form" of nuclear test.
The announcement followed other steps taken by the Pentagon to bolster its military posture in Japan, including an October decision to position a second X-band missile defense radar there. That radar is expected to be operational this year.
"These steps will greatly enhance our ability to defend both Japan and the U.S. homeland from North Korean ballistic missile threats," Hagel told reporters at Japan's defense ministry.
Narushige Michishita, associate professor and security expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said the moves were "part of the U.S. attempt to bolster reassurances vis-Ã*-vis Japan."
It also fits within the context of broader American efforts to bolster its military presence in the region, part of a strategic "rebalance" or "pivot" toward Asia that President Barack Obama will emphasize during his trip this month to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines.
"GREAT POWER"
As Washington pivots, China has been ramping up military spending, building new submarines, surface ships and anti-ship ballistic missiles and testing emerging technology aimed at destroying missiles in mid-air -- technologies the Pentagon says appear designed to counter U.S. military capabilities.
China is also becoming more assertive in territorial disputes, including last year declaring an air defense identification zone covering disputed, Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea.
Hagel, who leaves for Beijing on Monday, called China a great power, but used unusually strong language about how nations should wield such power, saying they must not resort to coercion or intimidation. That, he warned, could trigger conflict.
"Great powers have great responsibilities. And China is a great power," Hagel said, adding he wanted to talk with China about its use of military power and encourage transparency.
In remarks almost certainly meant to reassure Japan, a treaty ally that the United States has pledged to defend, Hagel pointed to the example of Russia's annexation of Crimea as the kind of action that would not be tolerated.
"You cannot go around the world and redefine boundaries and violate territorial integrity and the sovereignty of nations by force, coercion or intimidation, whether it's in small islands in the Pacific, or in large nations in Europe," he said.
Japan has drawn parallels between Russia's actions in Crimea and what it sees as China's challenge to the status quo in the East China Sea.
Hagel hosted talks last week with Southeast Asian defense ministers in Hawaii, where he also warned of growing U.S. concern about territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
The U.S. State Department has accused China's coastguard of harassing Philippine vessels and called its attempt a week ago to block a Philippine resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed atoll, provocative and destabilizing.
"Something else ... that I will be talking with the Chinese about is respect for their neighbors. Coercion, intimidation is a very deadly thing that leads only to conflict," he said.
"All nations, all people deserve respect."