BY PHIL STEWART AND NOBUHIRO KUBO
TOKYO Sun Apr 6, 2014 3:24am EDT
Reuters
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R) and his Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera attend their joint news conference at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo April 6, 2014.
(Reuters) – The United States moved on Sunday to reassure Tokyo over its mounting security concerns, saying it would send more missile defense ships to Japan following North Korean launches and use a high level trip to warn China against abusing its “great power.”
Japan has watched with alarm in recent weeks as North Korea carried out a series of missile launches, including firing two medium-range missiles capable of hitting the U.S. ally.
Tokyo has also voiced growing anxiety over China’s military buildup and increasingly assertive behavior in a territorial dispute over East China Sea islands.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that two Navy destroyers equipped with missile defense systems would be deployed to Japan by 2017. It was a response, he said, to provocations from the North, which has also threatened to carry out a “new form” of nuclear test.
The announcement followed other steps taken by the Pentagon to bolster its military posture in Japan, including an October decision to position a second X-band missile defense radar there. That radar is expected to be operational this year.
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