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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
US and Japan begin exercises including missiles that China calls a
threat
By Brad Lendon, Nectar Gan, Haley Britzky, CNN
Updated:
2:39 AM EDT, Thu September 11, 2025
Source: CNN
The United States and Japan begin two weeks of military exercises on
Thursday that will deploy a missile system capable of striking the
Chinese mainland, a move Beijing has already condemned as threat to
regional security and stability.
The Resolute Dragon exercises kick off less than 48 hours after US
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke with his Chinese counterpart,
Defense Minister Adm. Dong Jun, via video call in their first known
talks, which the Pentagon described as “candid and constructive.”
The US-Japan drills also come just over a week after a in Beijing,
during which the People’s Liberation Army showed off some of its
newest missile systems while leader Xi Jinping watched alongside
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
The joint exercises will feature the US’s Typhon and NMESIS missiles
as well as Japan’s Type 12 surface-to-surface missiles, according to
a US Marine Corps press release.
The missile systems of varying ranges provide a “layered”
capability to “protect critical waterways, defend key terrain, and
project power from ashore,” the release said.
Beijing has already called out the deployment of the Typhon, also known
as the US Army’s Mid-Range Capability (MRC) system, as “a
substantial threat to strategic security in the region.”
“The US and Japan should respect other countries’ security concerns
and must not bring in the ‘Typhon’ intermediate-range missile
system,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said late
last month.
The Typhon system is capable of firing the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6),
which can be used in ballistic missile defense, aircraft defense and
can also target ships at sea at a range of 370 kilometers (230 miles),
according to the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS).
It also can fire the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, a maneuverable
cruise missile with a range of 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles),
according to the CSIS.
It was for exercises last year in the Philippines, in a move that was
also condemned by Beijing.
The Typhon will be at the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni on Japan’s
main island of Honshu for the Resolute Dragon exercises, the Marine
statement said.
The Marine Corps release did not say where the other systems would be
deployed, but did say the exercises would include Japan’s Southwest
Islands, which extend to within 70 miles (113 kilometers) of the coast
of Taiwan, the self-governing island that the Chinese Communist Party
claims as its own and has vowed to seize by force if necessary.
The NMESIS system is a shorter-range missile, about 115 miles (185
kilometers), that fires sea-skimming missiles at naval targets.
Japan’s newly upgraded Type 12 missile has a range of up to 560 miles
(900 kilometers), according to the International Institute of Strategic
Studies (IISS).
On Wednesday, Hegseth told Dong that the US “does not seek conflict
with China nor is it pursuing regime change or strangulation” of
China, according to chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.
“At the same time, however, he forthrightly relayed that the US has
vital interests in the Asia-Pacific, the priority theater, and will
resolutely protect those interests,” Parnell added.
Dong urged Hegseth to respect China’s “core interests” and raised
Taiwan and the South China Sea, according to the Chinese readout.
High-level engagement
The call between the defense ministers comes as the US and China ramp
up high-level engagement as anticipation builds over a possible summit
between Xi and Trump this autumn.
Trump and his top advisers are quietly preparing to in late October for
the gathering of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers,
three Trump administration officials told CNN. The summit is viewed as
a key opportunity for Trump to meet with Xi.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign
Minister Wang Yi spoke by phone. The two last met in July on the
sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Malaysia.
The Chinese readout said both sides considered the call “timely,
necessary, and productive,” and emphasized the need to “further
leverage head-of-state diplomacy” to help the two countries manage
differences and enhance cooperation.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the US House of
Representatives will make an official trip to China later this month,
marking the first such trip in over six years.
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