Gold Prices Fall Amid Rate Jitters; Copper Steady as China Stimulus Eyed 
Russia protested Japan’s decision to acquire and deploy U.S.-made Aegis Ashore missile defense installations on its territory after the decision was made in late December by Tokyo to defend against North Korean missile threats. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the deployment would lead to a deterioration in bilateral ties between Moscow and Tokyo. She said, “Actions like these are in direct contradiction to the priority of building military and political trust between Russia and Japan, and, unfortunately, will impact in a negative way on the whole atmosphere in bilateral relations, including negotiations over the peace treaty problem”.
The relations between the two countries deteriorated since Japan joined other G-7 countries to impose sanctions on Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea in 2014. While Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying since 2016 to mend relations between the two, several contentious issues such as missile deployments pose challenges. Prime Minister Abe initiated bilateral talks over the final status of the Kuril islands, which both countries claim as their territories.
Russia has been arguing that the Mark-41 vertical launch system (VLS) in the Aegis Ashore system violates the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty) because of its ability to launch offensive cruise missiles. The system has been used to launch cruise missiles by the United States in the past. The INF treaty was signed by the U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987.
