Once again, Hawaii will bid a warm aloha to the many nations participating in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military maritime exercises, which begin June 30 off Hawaii and Southern California.

This year, 27 nations with 25,000 service members and a massive armada of ships and aircraft will participate in joint exercises, which range from complex warfighting to disaster relief and search-and-rescue operations.

It’s an event we welcome, and not just for the tens of millions of dollars it will inject into the local economy.

Hawaii sits squarely in a part of the world of increasing strategic importance to the U.S. — think “pivot to Asia” — and is especially relevant now, as China aggressively expands its military presence in disputed areas of the South China Sea.

That makes the lofty goal of RIMPAC, to help participants “foster and sustain cooperative relations that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security of the world’s oceans,” carry particular resonance in our islands.

And it’s why the participation of so many nations in the world’s largest international maritime exercise should include China, one of the biggest and most troublesome players in the region.

Building military-to-military relationships with our adversaries as well as our allies improves cooperation and decreases the possibility of conflicts based on misunderstandings.

China participated in RIMPAC 2014, bringing four vessels, along with an uninvited spy ship that kept its distance.

Since then, China’s militarization of the South China Sea — expanding artificial islands, stocking them with missiles and jets, conducting dangerous intercepts of U.S. military aircraft in the area — has led to challenges on both sides. China even made the odd assertion that its actions are “no different from the U.S. deploying defense facilities on Hawaii,” ignoring the obvious point that unlike the islands in the South China Sea, no foreign country has a claim to Hawaii.

Such actions have led to calls to rescind the invitation to China to participate in this year’s RIMPAC.

That won’t happen. Chinese military vessels — a destroyer, a missile frigate, a supply ship, a submarine support ship and a hospital ship — will dock at Pearl Harbor later this month.

Security precautions will safeguard U.S. technology and tactics, the Navy says; China’s participation will involve such areas as gunfire, damage control and rescue, anti-piracy, search and rescue, and submarine rescue, according to Xinhua, China’s news agency.

The Hawaii congressional delegation supports China’s participation — although U.S. Rep. Mark Takai had his doubts. He said in March he would try to ban China’s involvement, but backed off a bit because “some of our senior military leaders still see value in their participation.”

Of course, Hawaii has an interest in calm, predictable U.S.-China relations that goes beyond military security. Our economic ties with China grow stronger every day.

An easing of travel restrictions and direct flights from Beijing are bringing more high-spending Chinese tourists to Hawaii than ever before. Chinese companies also are investing here; last year, a developer announced plans for spend $1 billion to build two luxury hotels on two Ko Olina Resort beachfront parcels.

RIMPAC will bring 1,200 Chinese military personnel to Hawaii, and we hope they enjoy their visit. We also hope they return to China with closer ties, based on mutual respect, with all the people who call the Pacific home.