The Ryukyu Islands, as seen on a map at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor. Samurai Wiki
SCMP/AFP: US plans to conduct first missile drill near divisive Okinawa base, countering China’s ballistic weapons
* The drill would reportedly involve a mobile rocket launcher seen as a countermeasure to potential attacks from Chinese surface-to-sea ballistic missiles
* China’s military build-up has unnerved Asian neighbours, with Japan’s defence chief last year saying China was ‘unilaterally escalating’ activities
The US military will this year conduct its first missile drill around the Japanese island of Okinawa, according to a report on Thursday, as Washington seeks to counter an increasingly assertive China.
The US military has told its Japanese counterpart it plans to deploy surface-to-ship missiles in the strategically important Okinawa this year for the first such drill by Japan’s key ally, the Sankei reported, without citing sources.
The drill would involve a mobile rocket launcher seen as a countermeasure to potential attacks from Chinese surface-to-sea ballistic missiles, the paper said.
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Update: US To Hold "First-Ever" Missile Drill On Japan's Okinawa (Zero Hedge)
WNU Editor: This is all about sending a message to China, and a reminder to China that Okinawa does not belong to them .... China Wants Okinawa (January 1, 2016).
