Japan, US to form missile plan in case of Taiwan emergency

TOKYO: Japan and the US aim to compile a joint military plan for a possible Taiwan emergency that includes deploying missiles, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.

Under the plan expected to be complied next month, the US would deploy missile units to the Nansei Islands of Japan’s southwestern Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures, and to the Philippines, the report said, citing unnamed US and Japanese sources.

The US Marine Corps’ Marine Littoral Regiment, which has High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and other weapons, will be deployed to the Nansei Islands, Kyodo said.

A US unit dealing with space, cyberspace and electromagnetic waves will be stationed in the Philippines, the report said.

Calls to Japan’s defence ministry and the embassies in Tokyo of the US and the Philippines were not answered on Sunday.