Philippine Army spokesman De Marala said in an interview that the medium-range missile launch system previously deployed by the US military in the Philippines will be withdrawn from the Philippines and returned to the US military in September at the latest.
With regard to the sudden withdrawal of the US military's intermediate-range missile system, De Maralla's explanation is that the reason why the US military's medium-range missile launch system chose to deploy the Philippines is that the US weapon was used in the US-Philippine "shoulder-to-shoulder" joint military exercise and the "Shield" joint military exercise, and according to the original military plan between the United States and the Philippines, after completing these tasks, the US medium-range missile system will be withdrawn from the Philippine mainland. In other words, the deployment of missiles in the Philippines is only for the purpose of exercises, and now that the exercises are over, it is naturally necessary to evacuate.
But is that really the case? As we know, the deployment of medium-range missile systems by the United States in the Philippines began in April this year, when the "Defense Visualization Information Service" of the US Department of Defense announced that the US Army will deploy medium-range missiles on Luzon Island in the Philippines, and the US Multi-Domain Task Force will also be deployed on Luzon Island.
Subsequently, the U.S. medium-range missile system departed from Washington State on a C-17 Globemaster transport plane, spanning 12,800 kilometers and finally arrived on the Philippine island of Luzon.
The U.S. medium-range missile system is called "Typhon", which is modified from the U.S. Navy's vertical launch system, so this system can not only carry Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of 2,500 kilometers, but also can be equipped with U.S. standard air defense missiles, which means that it can be used for both land and sea strikes, and air defense at the same time.
At this year's Shangri-La Dialogue, mainland Defense Minister Dong Jun said to his face that China's patience on the South China Sea issue has its limits, and that certain countries have cooperated with foreign forces in deploying intermediate-range missile systems in the region, seriously undermining regional security and stability.
On the issue of stationing troops, the United States has always refused to leave when it comes, and it can delay for as long as it can. For example, in the Iraq War, although the US military has now withdrawn nominally, it still retains three permanent military bases in Iraq, and now in Syria, the US military is illegally deployed and cannot be driven away.
Therefore, with the style of the United States, since it has been deployed to the Philippines, it is obviously impossible to withdraw suddenly, not to mention that the time is only three months. The Philippines said that it was used for exercises, but in fact, in the past few exercises, the medium-range missile system was not used at all.
The reason for the sudden withdrawal of medium-range missiles by the United States is most likely related to the recent outbreak of electronic warfare between China and the United States in the South China Sea. There has been news on the Internet that on June 30, China and the United States launched a fierce electronic confrontation in the waters of the South China Sea near the Bass Strait.
The cause of the incident was that the US P-8A anti-submarine patrol plane dropped a detection buoy in the South China Sea, which was picked up by the Chinese side. Then the United States was not convinced, and sent RC-135 electronic reconnaissance aircraft, as well as American EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, in the direction of the South China Sea to try to put pressure on the Chinese side. In this regard, we are not accustomed to the United States, and have sent Y-9 electronic warfare planes and J-16D electronic warfare planes, coupled with the aircraft carrier fleet cruising in the South China Sea, to launch an electronic countermeasure war with the US military. In the end, the United States was defeated.
Taiwanese media "Zhongtian News" reported in detail that during the RIMPAC military exercise, China and the United States broke out electronic warfare over the South China Sea for 12 hours. Taiwan's famous Tsai Zhengyuan and retired general Li Zhengjie said that if China and the United States break out in electronic warfare in the South China Sea, the United States will definitely lose, because the PLA's electronic warfare planes are newer and more powerful, and the US military can hardly be an opponent, and the United States also suffered a big loss in the confrontation in the South China Sea last time.
The Philippine media also confirmed this from the side, and it was reported that from June 29 to June 30, there was no signal and poor signal in Luzon, and even the GPS positioning was out of order, and there were also large-scale power outages, so the Philippine media speculated that it may be related to the "fighting method" of electronic warfare aircraft between China and the United States in the South China Sea.
In addition, the official account of the Southern Theater of Operations published a short article on the night of June 30, saying that "the smoke of gunpowder in the depths of the blue sea is thick". Referring to the good night short article released by the official account of the Southern Theater of Operations, it is generally interpreted by the outside world that there may be another "big event" in the South China Sea. Therefore, judging from this series of details, the outbreak of electronic confrontation between China and the United States in the South China Sea is not groundless.
Now, the United States has chosen to withdraw its intermediate-range missile systems that have been deployed on the Philippine island of Luzon, which shows that the United States believes that with the military forces deployed by the United States around the South China Sea, it can no longer guarantee the safety of intermediate-range missile systems, and there is even the possibility of large-scale interference by the People's Liberation Army, and withdrawal may be a last resort.
In addition, the Philippines also showed a trend of softening its attitude on the South China Sea issue on July 4, and Philippine Chief of General Staff Brawner said that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos had issued an order to the Philippine military to take measures to ease tensions in the South China Sea.
In a sense, this Sino-US electronic warfare confrontation incident has played a certain deterrent role in our handling of the South China Sea issue. This also proves that the United States and the Philippines are in fact a hard-nosed player on the South China Sea issue, so in dealing with the issue of China-Philippines disputes over islands and reefs in the South China Sea, "fighting with a punch" may be an effective means to solve the problem in a short time.