RIMPAC Gets Underway Amid Rising U.S.-China Tensions

RIMPAC gets underway amid rising US-China tensions

Americamilitarynews

The world’s largest naval exercise, the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) started Wednesday, promoting maritime cooperation in a region being clouded by U.S.-China rivalry.

The U.S.-led war games, joined by all members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, sends a clear message to Beijing as tensions rise across the Taiwan Strait and the war in Ukraine drags on.

China has been criticizing the Quad cooperation between the United States, India, Japan and Australia, as an attempt to create an “Asia-Pacific version of NATO.”

Some 26 nations with 38 surface ships, four submarines, nine national land forces, more than 170 aircraft and approximately 25,000 personnel are taking part in the biennial RIMPAC 2022, scheduled for June 29 to Aug. 4, according to the U.S. Navy. 

Five countries bordering the South China Sea – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore – are amongst the participants. Three of them have competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, where China declares “historical rights” over most of the sea.

RIMPAC 2022’s theme is “Capable, Adaptive, Partners,” and the main aim is to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, according to an announcement by the U.S. Navy.

Participating forces will exercise a wide range of capabilities from “disaster relief and maritime security operations to sea control and complex warfighting.”