US reassessing China part in Pacific naval war games

WASHINGTON—The United States said on Tuesday that it was “reassessing” China’s participation in a large naval drill in the Pacific this year, amid tensions with Beijing over maritime claims.

China took part in Rimpac, or the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, the largest international maritime warfare exercises involving some 20 countries held biennially under US leadership for the first time in 2014.

With Rimpac, the United States Pacific Command seeks to enhance interoperability between Pacific Rim armed forces, ostensibly as a means of promoting stability in the region to the benefit of all participating nations.

Rising tensions

But soon after China’s initial participation, aimed at reducing distrust, renewed incidents caused tensions to flare up anew.

China’s land reclamation and military buildup in the South China Sea have drawn international condemnation, including from the United States.

The Chinese “have an invitation for Rimpac and we will continue to review that,” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the armed services committee of the US House of Representatives.

“Our strategy in the Asia-Pacific is not to exclude anyone, but to keep the security architecture going there, in which everyone participates,” he testified at a congressional hearing.

‘Self-isolating’

“China is, however, self-isolating … that’s why all these partners are coming to us,” Carter said.

“We are constantly reassessing” the opportunity to have China participate in the exercise, he added.

US Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris has warned lawmakers that Beijing was “clearly militarizing” the South China Sea.

Washington recently struck an accord with the Philippines, making it possible for US forces to rotate through five Philippine bases, including those close to the South China Sea.

Assertive Beijing

China claims virtually all the South China Sea region, despite conflicting partial claims by Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines. The claim is demarcated in vague terms by the so-called nine-dash line, a U-shaped boundary that loops down from Taiwan as far as Indonesia’s Natuna Islands.

Beijing has been asserting its claim by occupying more reefs and outcrops in these waters, and building artificial islands, including airstrips on some of them.

Rimpac is held every two years during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii. It is hosted and administered by the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Pearl Harbor. The US invites military forces from the Pacific Rim and beyond to participate.

Modern creation

Rimpac 2014 involved 23 countries, some 50 ships, six submarines and more than 25,000 troops.

Although China’s claim to the South China Sea area of about 3.5 million square kilometers (1.4 million square miles) is based on historical records and geographic proximity, the nine-dash line is a modern creation. It first appeared on 1947 maps produced by the government of the Republic of China, which was replaced by the communist People’s Republic on the mainland just two years later.

Picking fights

China has refused requests to clarify the exact geographical coordinates of its South China Sea boundary. It also declines to say whether it considers the South China Sea to be Chinese territorial waters, an exclusive economic zone or some other legal designation.

Beijing says that it in no way impedes freedom of navigation, and its diplomats accuse others of picking fights. However, rising tensions, including Indonesia’s worries over China’s designs on waters around the Natuna Islands, threaten to make China’s preference for ambiguity no longer tenable. Reports from AFP and AP