Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday warned the world that the U.S. Aegis missile-defense system, which Japan approved to be deployed on their land, is a dual-purpose system and could be used for offensive purposes as well.
While visiting Japan, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to purchase more U.S. military equipment.
Last month Japan formally approved the expansion of its ballistic missile defense system with U.S. ground based Aegis radar stations and interceptors. The expansion was result of the growing threat from North Korea.
North Korea has fired two missiles over Japan this year, as well as three intercontinental ballistic missiles on steep trajectories into the Sea of Japan. In September, the isolated regime threatened to sink Japan “into the sea” with a nuclear strike and turn the U.S. into “ashes and darkness.”
The Japanese Defense Ministry has requested 730 million yen (about $6.5 million) for initial land surveys and studies on introducing the land-based Lockheed Martin Corp. system in the budget for the fiscal year starting April.
Each Aegis Ashore battery is estimated to cost just under 100 billion yen, defense ministry officials said at a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on December 12.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing in Beijing that neighboring countries follow Japan’s military deployments closely for historical reasons. “We think this involves strategic mutual trust between various countries and we hope Japan can take the security concerns of other countries into consideration.”
Reuters reported that Lavrov, speaking at his annual news conference in Moscow, said Russia doubted assertions that the United States would not be involved in the system’s operational control and said its deployment would cast a shadow over Moscow’s ties with Tokyo.
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