America Wants to Build a Ballistic Missile Defense System in Asia; This Action Has a Hidden Motive

Published in China Review News
(China) on 2 April 2012
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Celia Si Nga Cheung . Edited by Gillian Palmer .
America claims that she wants to deploy an anti-missile system in Asia and makes it clear that she will discuss the deployment of this system with Japan, South Korea and other countries. It is obvious that America intends to deploy this anti-missile system at China's doorstep.

On Mar. 26, assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs, Keli Deng, disclosed that America would like to build a regional ballistic missile defense system in Asia and the Middle East like the one that Europe wants to construct. America will discuss the deployment of this system with Australia, Korea and Japan to achieve this goal. When Keli Deng explained the strategic intention of the deployment of this defense system, he stated that the reason for deploying a new defense system in Asia and the Middle East was mainly to target Iran and North Korea. This move provides protection for the neighboring countries of Iran and North Korea, and would also be favorable for America in regards to responding to any future remote missile threats.

This speech immediately caused relevant countries to be greatly concerned. On Mar. 27, Hong Lei, the spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that China still believed that all countries should be careful to deal with the anti-missile issue through political and diplomatic means in order to achieve general security. Russia stated its concerns about whether such a system would work against Russian nuclear missiles, which act as a strategic deterrent to other countries. This would diminish Russia’s ability to defend itself.

The U.S. National Missile Defense system was proposed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. It mainly uses high-tech methods like early warning radar and military satellites. Its goal is to intercept the enemy missile when it is discovered and destroy it in the air so that the purpose of defending against the enemy’s missile can be achieved.

On the surface, this system is purely defensive equipment. It does not have the means or capability of attacking other countries. However, the problem of this system comes from its ability to disrupt world peace and national security. Currently, world peace and national security are maintained largely by mutual deterrence between countries. In other words, a country does not dare to be the first to attack another country over a strategic conflict of interest for fear of retaliation. In the nuclear era, such a strategic attack could be fatal. This is called the "mutually assured destruction theory," which is also considered to be one of the positive roles of nuclear weapons. Some people believe that America and Russia are constantly fighting, but do not dare to actually go to war due to the enormous destructive capacity of nuclear weapons. Both sides fear triggering a nuclear war, which would cause each to perish together.


社評:美國亞洲建反導 意在沛公

美國聲稱準備在亞洲部署反導系統,明言將與日韓等國展開商談,是明擺著的要把反導系統部署在中國的家門口。網絡圖
  中評社北京4月2日電(評論員 余永勝)美國負責全球戰略事務的助理國防部長克里登26日透露,除了在歐洲,美國也想在亞洲和中東部署地區性彈道導彈防禦系統。為了達到這一目標,美國將同澳大利亞、韓國、日本展開會談。克里登在解釋此舉的戰略意圖時表示,在亞洲和中東部署新防禦系統主要是針對伊朗和朝鮮,這不但為伊、朝的鄰國提供保護,也有利於美國應付日後可能出現的遠端導彈威脅。

  此語一出,立即引發相關國家的高度關切。中國外交部發言人洪磊27日就此表示,中方始終認為各國應慎重處理反導問題,通過政治和外交手段實現普遍安全。俄羅斯則表示,俄擔心這樣的系統將有能力打擊俄方作為戰略威懾之用的核導彈,並削弱其安全能力。

  美國國家導彈防禦系統(NMD),是由美國前總統克林頓提出的。它主要是利用包括預警雷達和軍事衛星之類的高科技手段,在發現敵方的導彈後實施攔截,並將其在空中擊毀,從而達到防禦敵方導彈威脅的目的。

  表面上看,這個系統是個純粹的防禦裝備,它本身並不具備攻擊其他國家的手段和能力。但問題是,現在世界和平與國家安全很大程度上是由國家間的相互威懾構築起來的。換句話說,一個國家之所以不敢率先進攻與它有著戰略和利益衝突的國家,就是因為如果這樣做,自己也將面臨著對方同樣的戰略打擊。在核武器時代,這樣的戰略打擊可能是致命的。這就是所謂的“確保相互摧毀理論”,這也被認為是核武器的“正面”作用之一:有人相信,正是由於核武器的相互摧毀的巨大毀滅性,使得冷戰期間美蘇雖然經常劍拔弩張卻都不敢擦搶走火,就是擔心可能引發核大戰,導致雙方同歸於盡。
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