By Yu Lan

America's deployment of medium and short-range missiles in the Asia Pacific and Europe has put Russia and other countries on high alert. Moscow has repeatedly warned that if the US deployed land-based medium and short-range missiles in the Asia Pacific and Europe, it would maintain the right to unilaterally suspend the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

The US is not only mass-producing medium and short-range missiles but has shipped them to Denmark for military drills and deployed medium-range missile systems in the Philippines, as news came from the RT website. AP reported that after the US backed out of the INF Treaty, the US Army began developing the Mid-Range Capabilities (MRC) Weapon System, also known as the Typhon missile system, which could launch the Tomahawk and Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) missiles to hit targets several hundred or over 1,000 kilometers away. The US troops deployed and test-fired the Typhon system in the Philippines for the first time during the latest US-Philippines joint exercises.

Russian President Putin said in a recent meeting that America's deployment of medium and short-range missiles all over the world has worried Russia and may prompt it to resume its production and deployment of such missiles as well. He stressed that Russia needs to respond to America' deployments and decide its next steps, hinting that resuming the missile production and global deployment is Russia's only option.

Military observer Teng Jianqun said Russia made such a decision for two reasons. First, given the current situation, missile proliferation, which has become a fact beyond dispute now, has caused tremendous changes in the form of warfare. Countries are more willing to destroy enemy targets through long-distance precision strikes as a way to enhance their military or attack capabilities. Second, the Putin administration hopes to intensify cooperation with relevant countries in certain regions, particularly in missile attacks, to deter the US and its allies.

After President Putin revealed the possibility of Moscow resuming the production of medium and short-range missiles, some Russian military experts analyzed that the missiles are likely to be deployed in Belarus or the DPRK. According to Teng Jianqun, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict is at a stalemate now, Russia is routinely attacking certain targets in Ukraine. Moscow's announcement to deploy the missiles on the Korean Peninsula and in certain European countries like Belarus is clearly an option to enhance its missile strike capabilities.

Russia has been in intensive diplomatic interactions with the Korean Peninsula lately. Faced with round after round of suppression from Europe and the US and as its security is constantly threatened by them, Moscow hopes to break through America's containment by finding itself some space in the Asia Pacific or the Middle East or Africa.

The US withdrew from the INF Treaty to enhance its strike capabilities, said Teng, adding that if America deploys its medium and short-range missiles in Alaska, the ROK, Japan, and the Philippines, that would impose huge military pressure on relevant regions and damage regional stability and security.

The US is the first to break its commitment, and Russia, in retaliation, plans to produce and deploy medium and short-range missiles as well. This will surely trigger a new round of global missile arms race that will definitely threaten world peace and security. As Washington and Moscow speed up the deployment of these missiles, the negative effects of the breakup of the INF Treaty further come to the fore, posing risks and challenges to regional security.

Editor's note: Originally published on military.cnr.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.