While in Japan on Monday to start off a three-nation tour of Asia, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the United States and Japan had reached an agreement to deploy a second missile defense radar installation on Japanese soil.
Panetta, who continued on to Beijing, China, following his stopover in Tokyo, said the agreement would enhance the Japanese-American alliance, improve Japanese defense and protect the U.S. from the threat of North Korea’s ballistic missile program.
While Panetta insisted that the move does not target China, Beijing responded angrily to the announcement, which came amid heightened tensions between China and Japan over the disputed Senkaku Islands, which the Chinese claim as the Diaoyu.