Defense Secretary Esper favors deploying missiles in Asia, doesn't 'see an arms race happening'

That didn't take long.

Just one day after the United States withdrew from a landmark arms control treaty, recently-confirmed Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday during a visit to Australia that he favors placing ground-launched, intermediate-range missiles in Asia in the near future, Reuters reports.

Esper said he would prefer the missiles be placed within months, but "these things tend to take longer than you expect." U.S. officials on Friday said any deployment of such weapons would be years away.

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The United States withdrew from the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty on Friday, a decision Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed on Russia, which the U.S. has accused of not complying with the treaty's guidelines. The decision raised concern among some experts, who fear that it will undo progress in arms-control relations with Moscow.

Esper, though, dismissed fears that the withdrawal was the start of a new arms race. "I don't see an arms race happening, I do see us taking proactive measures to develop a capability that we need for both the European theater and certainly this theater," he said, referring to the Asia-Pacific region. Read more at Reuters.