ISTANBUL
China on Monday blasted plans of the US to set up military bases and deploy missile units in Japan and the Philippines “in the event of a Taiwan contingency."
Beijing "firmly opposes countries using the Taiwan issue as a pretext to increase military deployments in the region, which only stirs up tensions, fosters confrontation, and undermines regional peace and stability," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in the Chinese capital.
The new temporary US bases are said to be established along the southwestern Nansei Islands chain, where the US Marine Littoral Regiment will be deployed, stretching from the Kagoshima and Okinawa provinces in Japan toward Taiwan.
China considers Taiwan as its "breakaway province" and has pushed back what it calls "interference" in its "internal affair," state media reported.
The Japan Self-Defense Forces are “expected to mainly engage in logistical support for the marine unit, including supplying fuel and ammunition.”
The US Army will also deploy long-range fire units of its Multi-Domain Task Force, which is designed to operate in a multi-domain environment, including air, land, water, space, cyber, and information, in the Philippines.
According to the plans, Tokyo and Washington will incorporate the new deployments in their first joint operation plan, scheduled to be formulated next month.
"The key to maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits is adherence to the one-China principle," Mao asserted.
Mao, however, said China "highly appreciates" Russia's stance in support of the one-China principle, as well as "its just stance opposing the use of Taiwan island to contain China."
She was responding to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko's statement that the US is "using the island of Taiwan to stir crisis in Asia, violating the one-China principle and strengthening military-political contacts with the island of Taiwan under the excuse of maintaining the 'status quo' and increasing arms supplies."