United States trying to make friends, against China with …

HONG KONG (CNN) – The Pentagon launched last week the world's largest naval war games, the biennial Rim of the Pacific, known as RIMPAC, bringing together 46 ships and -marines, 200 planes and 25,000 soldiers from 25 nations.

This contingent is missing China, which has been disowned by RIMPAC for its militarization of the islands of the South China Sea.

But as the ships arrived in Hawaii for RIMPAC, China was completing its own naval exercises, a series of live-fire naval exercises off Taiwan that began on June 17.

The overlap of the two sets of exercises only reinforces the differences between the two superpowers, as the two countries vie for military influence in the Pacific.
RIMPAC is talking about "building relationships," US military leaders said Thursday at a press conference in Hawaii, noting that Indo-Pacific countries were contributing for the first time to exercises, including Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. all have claims in the South China Sea.

"We work together, build relationships here, so later … it's hard to turn down a friend," said Vice Adm. John Alexander, commander of the 3rd fleet of the US Navy, at the Pearl Harbor rally. Games.

And RIMPAC shows that the US Navy is better at making friends than its Chinese counterpart, analysts say.
"The absence of China means that it loses an opportunity to build professional and potentially personal relationships with its regional and global naval counterparts," said Carl Schuster, former Joint Intelligence Operations Director. Center of the US Pacific Command.

Beijing does not host any naval exercise on the scope of RIMPAC, said Schuster.

"There is a bit of the approach" I'm the popular kid on the block "to all this," said Peter Layton, a visiting scholar at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia, pointing out that US Navy knows how to show its capabilities and those of its partners.

RIMPAC's planned missions include new missile demonstrations, amphibious drills, demining and anti-piracy drills, according to the US Navy.

Expect everything to be well publicized with tweets, photos, videos and postings on RIMPAC's Facebook page.

"It highlights in the graphic detail media for a month that the Marines want to exercise with the US Navy," Layton said.

And the presence of the nations of the South China Sea at RIMPAC shows that loyalties in the region remain very much at stake, Layton said.

Washington periodically sends warships within the limits declared by China around the disputed islands, but those called "freedom of navigation" have not been reached by other navies of the United States. ;South East Asia.

RIMPAC gives the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) a chance to show "passive support" for the US position, Layton said.

The 10 ASEAN countries include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. All except Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are at RIMPAC.

"ASEAN states may not be ready to sail with the US Navy through disputed waters, but they are eager to do some exercise with the US Navy and to show their solidarity, "said Layton.

"Vietnam is participating for the first time in this year's fiscal year, but the Philippines' participation also indicates that they want to cover their bets and remind China that they have no money. 39, other options, "he said.

Large coalition

Outside of Southeast Asia, the United States plays an important role among other allies.

The Canadian and Japanese admirals will be at global command positions Nos. 2 and 3 and the Australian and Chilean commanders will be the maritime and air components respectively.

"The confidence accumulated in RIMPAC will pay off when we all respond together to the crises that may occur," Admiral John Aquilino, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, told Pearl Harbor on Thursday.

China, meanwhile, sent a flotilla of warships for a week of "combat training" around Taiwan, which Beijing claims to be part of its territory but which has been a democratic and autonomous island since 1949 more to a civil war. Mainland China.

Beijing said the combat drills were "directed against separatist elements advocating" Taiwan's independence, "according to a Xinhua press service report.

The Chinese Army reported that two Eastern Theater Command warships conducted the exercises – with additional air and coastal units – in the Taitung Strait, Bashi Strait and Taiwan Strait. , according to Xinhua.
Stressing that the exercises were conducted by the Eastern Theater Command, formed during a Chinese military reorganization in 2016, was important, according to Schuster, the former US Navy officer now a professor at Hawaii Pacific University.

"This means that the PLA Navy and joint command structure are improving, are more capable and want Taiwan and the United States to know it," he said.

The drills took place while US Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who had launched China's RIMPAC invitation in early June, visited leaders in Beijing.

They included President Xi Jinping, who made his position known on the South China Sea.
"Our position is firm and unequivocal with respect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China," Xi said, adding that "any territory passed down by ancestors can not be lost when we do not do not want anything else. "

Alternative alliances

Beijing shows no desire for RIMPAC either. On Thursday, the Ministry of Defense announced plans for naval exercises with the 10 ASEAN countries later this year, aimed at "strengthening mutual trust, developing exchanges and cooperation, and safeguarding peace and security. regional stability ".

Meanwhile, Layton says that for all the US Army 's speech on building relationships, there is one person who could burn them during the month of RIMPAC – Donald Trump.

The US President met with leaders of NATO and the European Union as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin in July.
"Donald Trump is widely believed to insult Europeans and Canadians, and to actively attempt to harm NATO and the EU, while praising Putin for Syria and Ukraine," said the spokesman. Australian analyst.

"Some EU countries and perhaps others may wonder why they support an American exercise in the Pacific," Layton said. "Trump by attacking allies and friends will defeat for all participants some of the soft power aspects of RIMPAC."

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