A tale of two navies is emerging from this year’s Rim of the Pacific exercises: Chinese and U.S. cooperation in Hawaii, and Chinese and U.S. suspicion in the South China Sea.
Five People’s Liberation Army Navy ships are in Pearl Harbor for RIMPAC events, which started Thursday.
“As previously agreed by China and the United States, the Chinese Navy will take part in drills including gunfire, damage control and rescue, anti-piracy, search and rescue, diving and submarine rescue,” said Xinhua, China’s state news agency.
Ashore, Chinese sailors will participate in exchanges and sporting events, including a 5K race.
The story is different in the South China Sea, where the U.S. destroyers Spruance, Momsen and Decatur operated in international waters this week — drawing condemnation from China.
“Of course, we are well aware of the frequent activities of the U.S. ships and planes in the South China Sea. Such activities by the U.S. are meant to make a show of force and to weaken the determination and will of China to protect national sovereignty and security,” Col. Wu Qian, a Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman, said at a press briefing Thursday.
The U.S. “is making the wrong calculation,” Wu said. “The Chinese armed forces never gives in to outside forces.”
China’s claims to much of the South China Sea and its island-building campaign prompted U.S. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and U.S. Rep. Mark Takai, a Hawaii Democrat, to call for China’s RIMPAC invitation to be rescinded. Takai later modified the stance.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in early June that China’s actions could have the effect of “erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation” from other Asian nations.
Wu said Thursday that others will come to a “fair judgment” on the South China Sea issue, and “if someone wants to smear China by accusing China of ‘self-isolation,’ they are doomed to fail.”
On a recent deployment to the South China Sea by the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier strike group, at least one Chinese ship tailed the flattop daily, although no hostile incidents were reported, the Associated Press reported. The Stennis is participating in RIMPAC.
Asia Times ran a story opining that the United States is sending mixed signals to Asian allies by opposing Chinese territorial encroachment while allowing China to take part in RIMPAC.
Carl Baker, director of programs at the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu, said the United States needs to establish itself as the leading advocate for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, but that shouldn’t mean excluding China from RIMPAC.
“We understand that U.S.-China relations are more important than just what’s happening in the South China Sea,” Baker said. By including China in RIMPAC, the United States is saying “we’re bigger than just the South China Sea issue.”
China needs to be reminded that the United States doesn’t agree with what it’s doing, but cooperation can continue on a higher level. During RIMPAC the U.S. military can show China “how we cooperate, how we inter-operate with the rest of the countries in the region and how that ultimately benefits everyone,” Baker said.
To pander to the belief that the United States “is completely righteous in what it’s doing” in the South China Sea and the Chinese have no standing is not productive, either, Baker said.
At the same time China’s Wu accused the United States of seeking hegemony in the region, he also said China “attaches importance” to participation in RIMPAC.
“We think that participating in the joint exercise is conducive for the PLA Navy to improving its capability to deal with nontraditional security threats, and strengthening professional exchanges and cooperation with navies of other countries,” he said.
On July 12 the Chinese ships will head out for the sea phase, Wu said. Two years ago, when China was a first-time participant in RIMPAC, it stationed a spy ship in international waters off Hawaii. Experts say the United States also gains intelligence from the exercise.
