BEIJING: Chinese defence ministry has urged the Asia-Pacific to be on high alert as the US steps up forward military deployment in the region, western media reported on Thursday.
The new development came following reports of an American plan to revive a Pacific airfield that also launched atomic bombings of Japan.
The Chinese army is paying close attention to steps by the United States (US), and will decisively safeguard Beijing’s maritime rights, sovereignty and security in the region, Wu Qian, a spokesperson at the Chinese defence ministry, told a news conference.
Beijing Urges Regional Alert
Earlier in December, an American general told a Japanese newspaper that the U.S. army will make “significant progress” towards regaining the Tinian North airfield from overgrown jungle vegetation in upcoming months, as part of a strategy to scatter aircraft across the Indo-Pacific region as Beijing’s missile threat raises.
The airfield, abandoned following World War II, lies on Tinian island, part of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, and around 200 kilometres north of Guam, Reuters reported.
