The world’s largest maritime exercises begin in an increasingly tense Asia-Pacific | Military News

Hawaii, United States – In an era of greater tension and growing competition between China and the United States and its allies, the US Pacific Fleet hosts the Pacific Rim (RIMPAC), “the world’s largest international maritime exercise” in Hawaii.

Held every two years, RIMPAC this year brings together the armed forces of 29 countries for five weeks of training with the aim of strengthening multilateral relations and increasing preparedness to promote “a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

Established in 1971 by Australia, Canada and the US, this year’s exercises, which began on June 27, include militaries from South Korea, Japan and India, as well as countries from Southeast and South Asia, Latin America and seven European countries. .

Israel will also participate in its third RIMPAC, taking protests of pro-Palestinian groups in the region because of the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 37,000 people since October last year. RIMPAC public affairs confirmed that Israel would participate, but said it would have no aircraft or ships in the exercise. The Israeli military refused to answer questions about its participation in the exercise.

Military leaders say RIMPAC allows participating navies to improve “interoperability and readiness… for a wide range of potential operations around the world.” The exercise revolves around combat and contingency training on land, in the air and at sea, with 150 aircraft, 40 surface ships, three submarines and more than 25,000 personnel carrying out amphibious landings, urban combat training, anti-submarine warfare, ship sinking exercises, as well as cyber and space operations.

According to a RIMPAC spokesperson, RIMPAC 2024 will emphasize a “robust and complex tactical phase, comprehensive humanitarian and disaster relief operations, and integrated multi-domain warfare.”

This year’s RIMPAC takes place in a context of high regional tension.

The US strengthened multilateral cooperation interregional partnerships, established new defense agreements and developed its military capabilities across the Asia-Pacific, while China has increased its military exercises around Taiwan and repeatedly clashed with the Philippines on disputed islands and shoals in the South China Sea .

Russia, meanwhile, has also become more active in the region. Over the past two months, President Vladimir Putin has made high-level visits to China, North Korea and Vietnam, seeking support for his full-scale invasion of Ukraine and signing a defense pact with Pyongyang that heralds a new era of greater economic, political and military cooperation.

Meanwhile, just days before RIMPAC, the US conducted strategic bombing exercises, sent a nuclear aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula and carried out combat exercises around Taiwan and the South China Sea together with its allies.

“Our two militaries are competing for military supremacy. Who will be the most powerful in the most strategic part of the world, which is the Indo-Pacific?” Nicholas Burns, US ambassador to China, in an interview with the American broadcaster CBS’ 60 Minutes program in February.

David Santoro, president and CEO of the Pacific Forum, an Asia-Pacific policy think tank in Hawaii, said that after 25 years of focusing on counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, “the raw problem of war is back. We see it in Europe, we see it in the Middle East and there are strong signs that it could also happen in the Indo-Pacific… This is something that the public needs to understand and get used to, unfortunately.”

Santoro told Al Jazeera that he believes the national security community could do a better job of explaining to the public that “the new world we live in, which is not peaceful, which is getting more dangerous and which we need to adapt to.” . .

He adds that the world appears to be moving away from inclusive collective security towards “very difficult security priorities” and a world of bloc politics reminiscent of the Cold War. “We are back in a very worrying and difficult situation,” Santoro said.

Preparing for a future war

China participated in RIMPAC in 2014 and 2016, but amid growing regional tensions, it was disinvited in 2018. It was not invited to this year’s event.

In a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore earlier this month, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed that the Asia-Pacific was at the center of US security strategy, adding: “The United States they can only be safe if Asia is safe.” .

When asked by a Chinese delegate whether the US was trying to build a NATO-like alliance in the region, Austin responded: “Like-minded countries, with similar values ​​and a common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, are working together. to achieve this vision. And we strengthen relationships with our allies and partners, and we see other countries strengthening their relationships with each other in the region.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also highlighted the importance of security in the Asia-Pacific. Speaking ahead of Putin’s visit to Pyongyang, where leader Kim Jong Un has carried out numerous weapons tests this year, Stoltenberg noted: “What happens in Europe is important for Asia and what happens in Asia is important for us.”

This year’s RIMPAC will also feature the largest humanitarian aid and disaster relief training ever. Expeditionary forces and 2,500 participants from eight countries working with external organizations such as United Nations personnel and non-profit groups. The training will include state-level mass casualty simulation exercises and strengthen crisis response capabilities in the event of foreign disasters, as well as an urban search and rescue exercise that reflects “real-world operations during a humanitarian crisis.”

While organizers praise RIMPAC for promoting cooperation between partner nations, it is also drawing criticism from environmental and climate activists, indigenous groups and others across the region who are calling for the exercise to be canceled.

Responding to demonstrations outside Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet headquarters at Pearl Harbor, U.S. Third Fleet public affairs said in a statement: “Our goal at RIMPAC is to strengthen our country’s security…in an environmentally friendly way.” and culturally sensitive in order to allow us continued freedoms… where we have the right to protect our environment.”

Kyle Kajihiro, assistant professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawaii, pointed to several examples of military contamination in Hawaii and other parts of the Pacific, saying, “These impacts cause the Aina [land] uninhabitable and transform places of life and abundance into spaces of death.”

“The military’s record on the environment and cultural resources speaks for itself, in contradiction to its claims,” he told Al Jazeera.