Philippine Military Wants US Missile System to Stay ‘Forever’ Despite China’s Protests

Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner speaks during a press briefing after a command conference with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (not pictured) at the military headquarters in Manila on July 4, 2024. Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images

The Philippine military said on Sept. 24 that it wants to keep a U.S. mid-range missile system on its soil despite China’s demands.

“If I were given the choice, I would like to have the Typhon here in the Philippines forever because we need it for our defense,” Filipino Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. told reporters on the sideline of the Asian defense exhibition in Manila.

The missile system, also known as the Typhon system, arrived in the northern Philippines in April following a series of territorial standoffs between the Filipino and Chinese coast guards and vessels in the South China Sea.

This was the first time the U.S. Army had deployed a mid-range ground-based missile to the Indo-Pacific region. At the time, Army Brig. Gen. Bernard Harrington called the deployment “a significant step” in the United States’ partnership with the Philippines, the United States’ oldest treaty ally in the region.

The deployment of the Typhon system is part of the 2024 Balikatan joint military drills by the two treaty allies, which also involved Australian and French forces. However, the missile system was not fired during the combat exercises.

The U.S. Army didn’t mention how long the Typhon system will be stationed in the Southeast Asian archipelago.

Brawner said he had told the U.S. side about Manila’s request to keep the ground-based missile system in the Philippines.

“We’re still waiting for their response,” the general said.

The Philippines would want to buy the Typhon system if it had enough money, Brawner added.

In recent years, the Philippines has been involved in territorial disputes with the Chinese regime in the South China Sea, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims almost the entire waterway.

Despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling that invalidated Beijing’s claims, the CCP has fully militarized at least three of the artificial islands it has built in the disputed waters. In addition to China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam all have competing claims over various atolls, islands, and reefs in the strategic waterway.

Washington has no claims to the strategic waters but has said the peaceful resolution of the disputes—along with freedom of navigation and overflight in the waterway where a bulk of world trade transits—is in the United States’ national interest.

The Typhon system can be equipped with Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) and Tomahawk cruise missiles. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, SM-6 missiles have a maximum range that exceeds 200 miles, while Tomahawk missiles can travel 1,000 miles, placing China within the Typhon system’s target range.

Beijing has repeatedly protested against the presence of the Typhon system, demanding that U.S. and Philippine forces remove it immediately.

During a July meeting in Laos, China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, warned his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, that the introduction of a U.S. intermediate-range missile system in the Philippines risks escalating regional tensions and triggering “an arms race,” according to China’s readout.

During the same event on Sept. 24, Filipino Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters that he would neither confirm nor deny the potential extended stay of the Typhon system.

Teodoro dismissed Beijing’s demand as interference in the country’s internal affairs.

“They are using reverse psychology in order to deter us from building up our defensive capabilities,” Teodoro said.

“Before they start talking, why don’t they lead by example? Destroy their nuclear arsenal, remove all their ballistic missile capabilities, get out of the West Philippines Sea, and get out of Mischief Reef.”

Teodoro used the Filipino names for the disputed South China Sea and a contested reef off the western Philippines’ Palawan Island. Despite being within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, the reef has been occupied by Chinese forces since 1995.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.