The Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile launcher was transported from the US to the city of Laoag in the northern Philippines for the 39th Balikatan exercises involving troops from the US, Philippines, Australia and France from April 22 to May 10. It was supposed to leave the country by June but has been retained since then by the Philippine military for further assessment.

Army Brigadier General Michael Logico, spokesman of the joint drills, expressed anger at “the nerve” of Beijing over the Typhon issue, telling This Week in Asia: “China has no right to tell us what to do.”

On the Typhon remaining in the Philippines, the director of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Joint and Combined Training Centre, said: “I guess higher leadership decided to let the MRC stay longer than intended.”

China’s defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian was quoted by his ministry last Thursday as warning that “the Chinese side will take resolute countermeasures” if the Philippines failed to withdraw the missile system “immediately”.

Wu also remarked that “history and reality have repeatedly proven that wherever US weapons are deployed, the risk of war and conflicts will rise, and the local people will suffer undeserved suffering from war”.