Chuck Hagel says US will send two ballistic missile destroyers to Japan

theguardian.com
April 6, 2014

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The US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, delivered a two-pronged warning to Asia Pacific nations on Sunday, announcing that the US would send two additional ballistic missile destroyers to Japan to counter the North Korean threat, and saying China must better respect its neighbours.

In unusually forceful remarks about China, Hagel drew a direct line between Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s Crimea region and the continuing territorial disputes between China, Japan and others over remote islands in the East China Sea.

“I think we’re seeing some clear evidence of a lack of respect and intimidation and coercion in Europe today with what the Russians have done with Ukraine,” Hagel told reporters after a meeting with the Japanese defence minister, Itsunori Onodera.

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