On Thursday, during his visit to Seoul, United States’ (US) Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed concern regarding China’s pursuit of hypersonic weapons, saying that it “increases tensions in the region.”
“We have concerns about the military capabilities that the PRC continues to pursue. Again, the pursuit of those capabilities increases tensions in the region,” Austin said referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China. He also promised that Washington would maintain its capability to deter potential threats posed by Beijing. “It just underscores why we consider the PRC to be our pacing challenge. We’ll continue to maintain the capabilities to defend and deter against a range of potential threats from the PRC to ourselves and to our allies,” he added.
During his trip to Seoul, Austin held the 53rd US-Republic of Korea Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) with his South Korean counterpart, Suh Wook. the meeting focused on regional security challenges, including China and North Korea.
His comments were referring to Beijing’s two hypersonic weapons tests that were carried out in July and August. According to a Financial Times report, the Chinese military’s advanced missile test is said to have supposedly “stunned” American military and intelligence officials. It further claimed that US scientists “were struggling to understand” the hypersonic weapon’s capability, “which the US does not currently possess.”
Alluding to the US’ apprehensions, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Reuters last month: “There is an arms race, not necessarily for increased numbers, but for increased quality. It’s an arms race that has been going on for quite some time. The Chinese have been at it very aggressively.”
While the US’s concerns have heightened around the advanced tests, Russia has brushed them off. Speaking at a Russian investment forum on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that the US “was further along in the development of hypersonic weapons than the Pentagon has let on.”
“Why should we be concerned about the increased military potential of our nearest neighbour with whom we have an unprecedentedly high level of bilateral ties? We saw the reaction of our US partners to this but we know that the US is slightly ahead in hypersonic weapons development,” he said.
Presenting a joint front against the US, Russia and China have been ramping up engagement in recent years. In fact in a joint op-ed titled “Respecting People’s Democratic Rights” that was released last month, Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov and his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang called US President Joe Biden’s upcoming Democracy Summit a product of America’s “Cold-War Mentality.” Antonov and Qin accused Washington of unanimously “empowering” itself to decide which country is a democracy and which country is not, thereby “creating new dividing lines” and potentially stirring “ideological confrontation” in the world. The two countries have also signed a roadmap to develop closer military ties through strategic military exercises and joint patrols, citing increasing concerns over the US military activity at their respective borders.