SHANGHAI, September 13. /TASS/. A Chinese expert has called on China and Russia to ramp up cooperation amid rising tensions in the Asia Pacific region.
"The deployment of US missiles encourages Japan and acts as a direct deterrent to China and Russia. China and Russia need to strengthen cooperation in the context of the escalation of tensions in Asia, especially in the area of information exchange and the exchange of opinions about the situation to avoid any misunderstandings," Zheng Renyi of the Center for Russian Studies at the East China Normal University in Shanghai, told TASS.
He sees in the situation with Japan and the US missiles the ancient martial arts idea of "seme," or getting in your opponent’s head before attacking. "China and Russia now need to prevent and stop the spread of ‘seme.’ Because as soon as Japan is done with ‘seme,’ it will mean that it is ready to draw its sword," he said, adding that this poses a serious threat to security and stability in Asia.
"The deployment of US intermediate-range missiles in Asia is part of their broader military strategy aimed at creating regional instability. The United States does not act alone but heightens tensions via proxies, aiding in military troop deployment, just as it is doing by supporting Ukraine in its military confrontation with Russia in Europe. Europe has found itself in a very bad and absolutely unpredictable situation," the expert noted.
The same thing, in his words, is happening in Asia. "The situation is the same in Asia, where there has never been a real security crisis, but the United States in Japan has taken out a kind of ‘insurance policy’ via its deployment of intermediate-range missiles, as this gives it a free hand to act. The United States has already tested this model in Europe and now is seeking to replicate it in Asia," Zheng stressed.
Missiles in Asia
Christine Wormuth, the US Secretary of the Army, said earlier that the US side is interested in deploying ground-based intermediate-range missiles in Japan. Such missiles are banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which Washington withdrew from in 2019.
The United States deployed an intermediate-range missile system in the north of the Philippines during joint drills in the spring. Beijing strongly condemned this step.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was signed by the former Soviet Union and the United States in December 1987. It banned the deployment of ground-based and cruise missiles with a range of from 500 to 5,500 kilometers. However, the United States withdrew from the treaty in 2019. Despite this, Moscow pledged not to manufacture and deploy such missiles as long as Washington refrains from doing this in any part of the world.