Risk of War with China Highest Ever as U.S. Pulls Missiles from Japan
by Gordon G. Chang • November 23, 2025 at 5:00 am
The Pentagon should not have withdrawn the [Typhon missile system from Japan]. Worse, it chose the worst possible time to do so.
Now, in the middle of a confrontation that China has picked with Japan, the Chinese propaganda machine is pushing the narrative that the withdrawal of the Typhon battery shows that Washington is abandoning Tokyo.
[T]he U.S. Department of War should have foreseen that China would try to score points by making it look as if the U.S. had just caved in the face of Beijing's pressure.
More important, the U.S. and Japan might actually need the firepower now.
The Chinese reaction was swift — and unhinged. On November 8, Xue Jian, China's consul general in Osaka, posted on X that "the dirty head that sticks itself in must be cut off," widely interpreted as a threat to assassinate Takaichi.
First, Takaichi has unnerved China's leadership because, unlike most of her predecessors, she has not wilted in the face of Chinese pressure. Takaichi, who continues to refuse to retract her comment, has shown the rest of the world what defiance looks like and can encourage others to stand up to the grand celestial court.
Second, Xi Jinping thinks he can isolate Taiwan, and Takaichi's statement showed that instead he will be facing a coalition of free societies. No wonder he is not happy.
Xi needs a confrontation not so much to distract the Chinese people — the last thing a deeply unhappy populace wants now is war — but to prevent other senior Communist Party leaders from further challenging him.
On November 17, Japan's Ministry of Defense notified the Iwakuni city government that the Pentagon had withdrawn its Typhon missile battery from the U.S. Marine Corps air station there.
The battery had been deployed in September for the Japan-U.S. "Resolute Dragon 2025" exercise. This was the first time that the U.S. had installed a mid-range missile in Japan.
China had bitterly complained about the deployment, claiming that the missile system "seriously threatens regional security."
It is not hard to see why Beijing was so upset: The Typhon system, mounted on trucks, launches Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles and vastly complicates the plans of China's People's Liberation Army in the region. Tomahawks from Japan can reach Beijing and Shanghai in eastern China, all of North Korea, and Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East.
