RIMPAC 2008 Continues

In reviewing the press to date on RIMPAC 2008, an item stuck out as very interesting. Back on July 1st, Chinese press weighed in on the exercise with some sharp criticism of the United States, and these comments in particular stuck out.

160 planes, 6 submarines and 19,000 naval troops from Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Peru, Chile, South Korea and Australia are included, while the USS Kitty Hawk, one of the US Navy's flagship aircraft carriers, is in charge of the operation.

Live ammunition maneuvers are the highlight of the exercise, in which Japanese and South Korean submarines simulate an attack on US aircraft carrier by forces from an East Asian country. Some experts suggest that the East Asian country referred to is China. The US Navy will test its capabilities in searching and attacking anti-submarines in the drill.

China and Russia excluded from some programs

The RIMPAC military exercise is held every two years. China and Russia have previously been invited as observers. But the purpose of RIMPAC has never been clear to Russia and China, and the two countries are excluded from some elements of the drill.

China was not invited to send observers to the exercise this year, which intensified speculation that China is the imaginary enemy of this drill. Russia also responded negatively to a US invitation.

Obvious the country is China. There are a few points here.

Russia was originally intended to participate, but pulled out as far as we know. The reasons are political, in fact it was suggested in the Russian press that if the Navy had the option, they would have participated. The article that made that suggestion lasted a whole day on the internet before being wiped clean, which is less time than the details of the Project 20120 submarine was up on the City of Sarov website.

While Russia's participation is political, if China can't figure out why these exercises matter, they must not read the New York Times. Thomas Barnett links to this very interesting article on the PLA response to the earthquake. The NY Times offers a very interesting look at inside a PLA that was not ready to manage a serious crisis. Disasters are tough in response, and Katrina highlighted a number of flaws in US response, but one of the things exercises like RIMPAC 2008 does is creates conditions for leadership to manage challenging conditions.

The US Navy is the very best in the world at disaster response. If China is upset they weren't invited to RIMPAC 2008, maybe they should ask to attend. Sitting on the sidelines and aligning your discussion about RIMPAC 2008 with the political mouthpieces in Russia isn't good policy, and sends exactly the type of message that ultimately makes RIMPAC 2008 the largest naval exercise in the world.

The top picture is from RIMPAC 2006, gallery here. The second photo is a reminder that you do not need an exercise to form a large task force in the Pacific.