Imee: China plans hypersonic missile strikes on 25 Phl sites

Senator Imee Marcos has expressed alarm over China’s alleged plans to use hypersonic missiles on 25 areas in the Philippines amid escalating tension in the West Philippine Sea.

In a social media post, Imee, without disclosing the source of her information, said that the “root cause” of the problem was China’s assumptions that the Philippines allied itself with its “enemy.”

“China thinks we have sided with their enemy. We gave them 17 military bases,” she said, referring to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the United States.

“They're really getting angry,” she added.

According to the senator, China plans to launch an air strike on the Philippines using hypersonic missiles, contrary to the typical ground assaults.

"I'm really scared as tensions rise in the West Philippine Sea. I saw a plan by China to use hypersonic missiles," she said.

“They are not considering deploying their Army and Navy personnel in the Philippines to launch ground assaults. It was nothing like that. They are planning to launch air attacks,” she added.

Imee said China has already identified 25 sites it plans to strike, many of which are also locations of the EDCA.

"Based on what we've read, there are already BrahMos missiles in Batanes and Subic, so those two will be prioritized along with Ilocos because there will be live fire exercises in Balikatan. It's really scary, 25. That's no joke,” she said.

Worrisome

Imee bared that she had a discussion with the US regarding China’s alleged plan to launch hypersonic missile strikes in the Philippines.

“The US said they cannot fend off a hypersonic missile, which made me more even nervous. I thought when a country has missiles, there's something called an iron dome that missiles can't penetrate,” she said.

“However, they said that with hypersonic missiles, they can easily get through. It could cause massive disruptions,” she added.

Hypersonic missiles

According to the RAND Corporation, an American nonprofit global policy think tank, hypersonic missiles “travel at high speeds of Mach 5 or greater, fly at lower altitudes, and are maneuverable; they are thus considered to be difficult for current air defense systems to intercept.”

The US has yet to develop its own hypersonic weapon. China, on the other hand, has already developed and deployed “ground-, air- and sea-launched hypersonic variants.”

Earlier this year, China’s ally, Russia reportedly utilized a Zircon hypersonic missile in Ukraine for the first time in its more than two years old war.

The Zircon has a range of 1,000 km (625 miles) and travels at nine times the speed of sound, according to Russia.