TOKYO, November 29. /TASS/. Washington’s future Donald Trump-led administration will continue to carry out plans for deploying US land-based missiles in the Philippines and Japan to pressure China, said military expert and retired Rear Admiral Yasuhiro Kawakami, who spoke to TASS.

"In all likelihood, when President Trump assumes office, plans for deploying land-based missiles — first in the Philippines and then in the Nansei Islands in Japan's far southwest — will likely continue to be carried out in order to deter China," said Kawakami, who heads the security research group at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation think tank.

"This is being done not just for the simple purpose of obtaining security guarantees. Such plans stem from the economic interests of the US, as they ensure its freedom of navigation in the East China and South China Seas," he added.

However, the expert emphasized, the Trump administration's policy will also differ from that of outgoing President Joe Biden.

"It can be assumed that the Philippines and Japan will have to bear the burden of deploying these missiles, including the financial costs," Kawakami said.

Washington and Tokyo, as the Kyodo news agency reported earlier, plan to finalize by the end of December the first strategy for joint operations in case of a military crisis near Taiwan, which will include, among other things, the deployment of US missile forces in the nearby Philippines and southwestern Japanese islands. US Marine Corps units armed with HIMARS multiple rocket launchers will be stationed there. The Japanese Armed Forces will provide logistical support, including ammunition and fuel.

In the northern Philippines, US missile units, space communication and guidance teams, as well as cyber and electronic warfare units, are to be deployed in parallel. Typhon ground mobile units, capable of launching Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles and SM-6 multirole missiles, have already been stationed there since April. They can be used to attack ground targets as well as destroy air targets, including ballistic missiles.