BEIJING, September 12. /TASS/. Beijing will take effective measures to prevent the deployment of US intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region, Lieutenant General He Le told a TASS correspondent.

"The intermediate-range missiles being deployed by the United States pose a security threat to various countries in the Asia-Pacific region," the general said on the sidelines of the 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum. "We strongly oppose it and will take effective measures to firmly stop it," he emphasized.

Earlier, US Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said that the US side is interested in the deployment of land-based intermediate-range missiles on the territory of Japan, which is actually prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, from which Washington withdrew in 2019.

In the spring, the US deployed an intermediate-range missile system in northern Japan as part of a Philippine-US exercise. Beijing strongly objected to the move.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed between the USSR and the US in 1987. It prevented the deployment of missile launchers, land-based ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. In 2019, the US withdrew from the agreement. Moscow was ready not to produce or deploy missiles as long as Washington did not deploy these systems in any region of the world.