The world’s largest naval war games, the Rim of the Pacific exercises, will feature all 4 Quad countries and 5 South China Sea nations

The 2022 version of the world’s largest naval war games, the Rim of the Pacific exercises, will highlight key US accomplices from around the globe, including India, Japan, and Australia – – who have joined Washington in the Quad bunch – – and five nations bordering on the South China Sea, one of the world’s most turbulent areas for military tensions.

Altogether, the activities, situated in Honolulu and San Diego, will see military units from 26 nations partaking from June 29 to August 4. They’ll utilize 38 surface ships, four submarines and 170 airplanes in the activities, the US Navy’s 3rd Fleet said in a statement on Tuesday. Around 25,000 personnel will participate, including ground troops from nine countries.

A “free and open Indo-Pacific” has been a US mantra as China has been developing its forces and extending its reach in the region, incorporating militarizing islands in the South China Sea, practically which it claims similar to all sovereign regions.

Three nations with contending cases to China – – the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei — will participate in RIMPAC 2022. Indonesia, which borders the South China Sea and has seen late oceanic strains with China, will likewise partake, as will Singapore, which sits at the southwestern entrance to the 1.3 million-square-mile sea.

In the meantime, the Quad countries- – the United States, India, Japan, and Australia – – have been extending military participation as all have seen expanding contests with China around the region

The four countries have held two naval activities beginning around 2020. In the meantime, their leaders have assembled multiple times since last year – – incorporating at in-person summits at the White House last September and more recently on May 24 in Tokyo.

The activities will incorporate drills zeroing in on “amphibious operations, gunnery, missile, anti-submarine, and air defense exercises, as well as counter-piracy operations, mine clearance operations, explosive ordnance disposal, and diving and salvage operations,” the US Navy said.

“RIMPAC 2022 contributes to the increased interoperability, resiliency, and agility needed … to deter and defeat aggression by major powers across all domains and levels of conflict.

“During RIMPAC, a network of capable, adaptive partners train and operate together to strengthen their collective forces and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, has decried the grouping as an Asian “NATO,” accusing it of “trumpeting the Cold War mentality” and “stoking geopolitical rivalry.”

RIMPAC 2022 also includes Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom.

Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said besides the military value, the RIMPAC lineup shows the political clout Washington maintains worldwide.

“It signifies the strength and breadth of America’s global maritime partnerships, a very important deterrent signal to any potential aggressors who may believe Washington’s influence and strategic position, especially that of its navy, is in decline.

“RIMPAC’s broad international participation proves that is not the case,” Schuster said.

He likewise noticed the consideration of the Pacific island nation of Tonga in the activities when China is making a push to build its impact among the little countries in the South Pacific.

The forthcoming exercises will be the 28th edition of RIMPAC, which started in 1971.