“The Chinese have created a wide network of medium-range ballistic missiles, well over a thousand in the Pacific region, and the Russians, too - and they did it in violation of the INF Treaty,” RIA Novosti quotes Esper.

He said the US intends to "have similar capabilities in both directions."

“And at the same time, we need to improve our missile defense capabilities to counter such and similar systems,” Esper said during a speech to the Atlantic Council.

Earlier, the Russian Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said that the United States had confirmed its intentions to deploy intermediate and shorter-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region.

The United States withdrew from the INF Treaty on August 2, 2019, under the pretext of violations of the agreement allegedly committed by Russia.

In December of the same year, the head of the Pentagon, Mark Esper, said that the first test of a ballistic missile, which had previously been banned by the INF Treaty, was successful.