Vice President Joe Biden flew onto the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis off Hawaii on Thursday to thank the crew for their service and role in helping maintain economic prosperity and stability in the South China Sea.

The John C. Stennis Strike Group and its 7,000 sailors left the western Pacific on June 25 following a deployment operating mostly in the area that’s claimed by China but also by other nations.

The carrier and 5,500 sailors and air wing members are now participating in Rim of the Pacific exercises.

“Thank you for being part of the greatest naval fighting force in the history of the world,” Biden told more than 1,000 sailors in one of the carrier’s big hangar bays, occupied by F/A-18 aircraft.

Biden, who participated in a deputy-level trilateral meeting with U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials earlier in the day, said RIMPAC is an example of the Navy’s greatness.

“It’s an incredible testament to the ability of the United States of America to organize and rally the world,” he said. “No other nation has that capacity.”

North Korea’s aggression, China’s actions in the South China Sea and the vital strategic partnership linking the U.S., Japan and South Korea were among issues that Biden hit upon in the two meetings. He arrived by tilt-rotor Osprey on the Stennis as it operated about 140 miles south of Oahu.

On the Stennis’ recent deployment to the South China Sea, at least one Chinese ship tailed the flattop daily, although no hostile incidents were reported, according to the Associated Press.

China soundly rejected a decision this week by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, Netherlands, finding that China has not historically exercised exclusive control over the South China Sea and has no legal basis to claim historic rights to resources there.

China lays claim to most of the South China Sea.

“Stability in Asia-Pacific is absolutely indispensable for the security and prosperity of the United States of America, as well as our partners around the world,” Biden told the sailors.

The region is home to nearly 50 percent of the world’s population, and in coming decades it’s likely to represent 50 percent of the entire world’s gross domestic product, he said.

“President Barack Obama and I have made it crystal clear that … the United States is a Pacific nation,” Biden said. “We’re going to be present in the region, we’re going to be active in the region, for as long as any of you are alive.”

Biden also said he asks every day for the running tally of U.S. troops who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how important it is to remember each and every one.

“It drives me crazy when I hear people say, ‘over 6,000.’ It’s 6,746, because every single one of those fallen angels left an entire community behind,” Biden said.

Biden, who wore a blue blazer and white dress shirt but no tie, also ate in one of the mess halls with enlisted sailors, partaking in the same roast turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy served to the rest of the crew.

Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Fairlie, 29, an aviation electrician’s mate who listened to Biden speak in the hangar bay, said it was the first time he had seen someone as important as the vice president come aboard.

“It’s an important thing to get someone out here to thank us for everything we’ve been doing,” the sailor from Kansas City, Mo., said.

Petty Officer 1st Class Lovine Marvin, 27, also an aviation electrician’s mate, said the recent deployment involved “trying to keep our relations with everybody over there” and “also trying to keep up the presence for America.”

In both the South China Sea and in RIMPAC, the carrier has been practicing tracking submarines.

“We’re just trying to make sure that we’re up to date on everything that we can do to track submarines and any enemy targets or anybody that poses a threat to us,” said Marvin, who is from San Diego.

Biden met earlier in the day with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama and South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam during a trilateral meeting hosted by Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.

“The United States, Japan and South Korea have been allies for decades, but over the past few years we’ve made an unprecedented degree of progress in deepening and strengthening our relationship,” Biden said during a press availability with more than a dozen representatives from each country present.

Biden said if the United States had been absent from Asia the last 40 years, he doubted China would be as successful as it is, and the United States, South Korea and Japan have the ability to sustain that stability for the next 20, 30 or 40 years.

“There will be a lot of bumps in the road along the way. What really matters is that we have the same strategic view,” he said. The U.S. re-balance to the Pacific is not meant to contain China, but as a moderating force, he added.

South Korea, Japan and the United States are “trading nations” that depend on the free flow of commerce and freedom of navigation. He said it’s “essential that we continue to express our mutual support for the rule of law.”

In the wake of the international arbitration ruling against China, that country must decide “you either are going to abide by international standards or not. Don’t pretend.”

North Korea’s continued aggression, meanwhile, “serves as a timely reminder that our partnership is essential to developing and addressing the threat of nuclear proliferation in Northeast Asia,” he said.

Biden is departing the islands today for a trip to Australia and New Zealand.