WORLD / World Reaction
US, Japan to study missile defense system with Australia
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-06-01 17:10
The United States and Japan plan to study a joint missile defense system
with Australia to counter growing threats in the Asia-Pacific region, a
Japanese government source said yesterday.
Tokyo and Washington have already begun installing a missile shield in
and around Japan to ward off potential threats from the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The government official said the new
plan also took into account the possibility of a Chinese missile threat
against Australia and Guam.
Officials from Japan, the United States and Australia agreed to study the
plan when they met in Tokyo in April, the source said.
"The basic tenet of the plan is to step up cooperation between the three
countries in the field of security in the Asia-Pacific region," said the
source, who declined to be identified.
The source declined to say whether Australia would go ahead and introduce
a missile defence system.
"But Australia appears quite willing to contribute to maintaining
security in the region, and the joint study program was worked out to
deal with the changing security situation in the region," he said.
The United States and Japan started planning a missile defense system
after the DPRK test-fired a ballistic missile, part of which flew over
Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, in 1998.
Japan speeded up implementation of its missile defence program after the
DPRK fired a volley of missiles last July - trucking its first PAC-3
interceptors into a military base north of Tokyo in March.
The United States has PAC-3 land-based interceptors on the southern
island of Okinawa and SM-3 ship-to-air interceptors stationed at the
Japanese port of Yokosuka.
Officials from the three countries are expected to meet and discuss the
project later this year, the source said.
In March, Japan and Australia signed a ground-breaking defense pact that
the leaders of both countries stressed was not aimed at reining in China.
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