Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Coveting power parity, Chinese join US-led naval drills

BEIJING — After 43 years of watching the world’s largest multinational naval exercises take place off Hawaii, China this year has the second-largest fleet at the United States-led Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), offering it a step towards the great-power parity it seeks in the Pacific.

Chinese soldiers at a ceremony in Shanghai. The RIMPAC drills offered China and the US a non-confrontational opportunity to learn more about each other’s capabilities. Photo: REUTERS

Chinese soldiers at a ceremony in Shanghai. The RIMPAC drills offered China and the US a non-confrontational opportunity to learn more about each other’s capabilities. Photo: REUTERS

BEIJING — After 43 years of watching the world’s largest multinational naval exercises take place off Hawaii, China this year has the second-largest fleet at the United States-led Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), offering it a step towards the great-power parity it seeks in the Pacific.

China’s high visibility at the five-week operations underscores a shift in foreign-policy stance away from former leader Deng Xiaoping’s maxim to “hide your brightness, bide your time”. President Xi Jinping is restructuring the military to better enable it to fight wars and has deployed vessels into areas in the East and South China Seas that are disputed with neighbours.

The RIMPAC drills offered China and the US a non-confrontational opportunity to learn more about each other’s capabilities, a contrast with encounters that have included a near-collision with an American cruiser in December. While China’s four People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ships have been welcomed, they have also been kept out of core war games and the 22-nation exercise led by the US — along with allies Australia, Japan and Canada — illustrating the difficulties in forging closer military ties.

“The PLA sending four ships to RIMPAC is intended to show China’s growing maritime prowess in the region and its increasing capabilities to handle regional maritime affairs,” said Beijing-based senior researcher Li Jie of the Chinese Naval Research Institute. “It also serves as a subtle warning that the US would be better off to not encourage what would be harmful to Chinese interests in the region.”

Beijing sent two of its top ships to the RIMPAC exercises from June 26 to Aug 1: The missile destroyer Haikou and missile frigate Yueyang. It also sent the supply vessel Qiandaohu, the Peace Ark hospital ship, two helicopters and a dive unit.

Secrecy still shrouds much of China’s military hardware, meaning the US may learn more from observing Chinese vessels close up than the other way around, said Captain Bernard Cole, a former US Navy officer who teaches at the National War College in Washington.

China’s only aircraft carrier, the refurbished Liaoning, which was commissioned in September 2012, did not join the drills. The US has a total of 21 ships taking part, including the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier.

Before the drills began, China’s navy requested to train for opposed boardings such as of a hijacked ship, but the US declined, said Lieutenant Lenaya Rotklein, a public affairs officer for RIMPAC. It “was not consistent with the multilateral training objectives” of the task force that China is part of, she said.

China will participate with a group of ships from France, Mexico and the US Navy in maritime security operations that include counter-piracy, gunnery and search-and-rescue, she said.

The fact that Beijing cannot take part in the core exercises “reflects the fact that psychologically, the US is still guarded towards China”, said Professor Ni Lexiong, director of the Sea Power and Defence Policy Research Institute at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

The US National Defence Authorization Act enacted in 1999 prohibits the Secretary of Defence from authorising military-to-military contact with the PLA if it would create a national security risk due to an inappropriate exposure in certain areas, such as nuclear operations and reconnaissance missions.

But the US and China vowed to improve military cooperation during the two-day Strategic and Economic Dialogue between the countries in Beijing that ended last Thursday. Mr Xi had opened the meeting with a speech saying any conflict between the two countries would be a disaster for the world.

Five days later, the US Navy’s chief of naval operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, visited Beijing for talks with China’s navy commander Wu Shengli, said the official Xinhua news agency.

Chinese soldiers will also train alongside US and Australian troops in Australia for the first time in October, Australia’s Defence Minister David Johnston said on Thursday after meeting General Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission.

While Beijing’s participation in RIMPAC is unlikely to affect its more assertive policy on the South China and East China Seas, it will increase trust with Washington, Capt Cole said. China’s navy lacks significant international experience, he said.

Involving China will reassure South-east Asian countries that Washington is willing to engage with Beijing and also reduce fears among Chinese leaders that it seeks to build an anti-China coalition, said Mr Felix Chang, a senior fellow at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

“That, in turn, makes it easier for these South-east Asian countries to see the US as a positive and stabilising power in the region,” he said.

The US rebalance to the Asia-Pacific is based on cooperation and collaboration, which means that it is imperative that navies work together, Adm Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, said in a statement on July 1.

“As the world’s economic centre of gravity shifts rapidly towards the Indo-Asia-Pacific, we also note the increasing risks in the region,” he said. “I think it’s important to note that by simply attending RIMPAC, every nation here is making the bold statement that we must improve multinational military cooperation, despite disagreements.” BLOOMBERG

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.