8/24/2020 No drunken sailors - America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise | International | The Economist

Menu

International

No drunken sailors

America musters the world’s biggest naval

exercise
The drills come as America and China are locking horns across Asia

Aug 16th 2020

THE REAL draw of the biennial “Rim of the Paci c” exercise, or RIMPAC, is the
cocktail party. The world’s largest naval drills, hosted by America in Hawaii, o er
sailors an opportunity not only to hone their skills with friendly navies from across
the world—including the chance to sink a clapped-out American warship as target
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/16/america-musters-the-worlds-biggest-naval-exercise 1/9
8/24/2020 No drunken sailors - America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise | International | The Economist
the world—including the chance to sink a clapped-out American warship as target
practice—but also to cement alliances in a more bibulous and convivial fashion
aboard one another’s destroyers, perhaps followed by after-parties in the
insalubrious corners of Honolulu. This year’s exercise, which runs from August

17th to 31st, will be a more abstemious a air. With Hawaii’s covid-count rising,
social events ashore are cancelled and fewer countries are scheduled to attend.

Though the drills may be pared down, the stakes are higher than ever. With the
relationship between America and China in apparent freefall, military tensions
between the two rivals are growing across the so-called rst island chain in the
western Paci c, stretching from Malaysia in the south to Japan in the North. In the
South China Sea, for instance, China has tangled with the Philippines, Vietnam and
Malaysia in recent months by harassing shing boats, stalking others’ oil-
exploration vessels and sending its own survey ships into disputed waters.

ADVERTISEMENT

America has also entered the fray more enthusiastically. In July it formally
repudiated China’s claim to o shore resources in the South China Sea as
“completely unlawful”, dispatched a pair of aircraft-carriers to the area for the rst
time in almost six years and held joint exercises with Australia and Japan. China’s
reply was to conduct live- re drills, peppering naval targets with what state media
claimed were more than 3,000 projectiles. The mood remains febrile. Last week the
Philippines’ navy chief complained that China’s navy was trying to provoke his
hi i t “ i th t h t” d A t th A
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/16/america-musters-the-worlds-biggest-naval-exercise
i i t d 2/9
8/24/2020 No drunken sailors - America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise | International | The Economist
ships into ring the rst shot , and on August 14th an American carrier returned.

The temperature is also rising around Taiwan, the democratic island that China
claims as its territory. In July, Taiwan’s envoy to America was allowed to enter the
State Department for an o cial meeting—something virtually unheard of since
America cut formal diplomatic ties with the island in 1979. That was a “a big deal”,
noted Drew Thompson, a former Pentagon o cial “and a change in longstanding
US policy”. Then on August 10th Alex Azar, America’s health secretary, visited
Taiwan and met President Tsai Ing-wen, becoming the most senior American
o cial to conduct a formal visit in decades.

Almost immediately, Chinese ghter-jets crossed the so-called median line of the
narrow strait which divides Taiwan from the mainland. That is thought to be only
the third occasion on which they have done so intentionally in the past two
decades. On August 13th the People’s Liberation Army upped the pressure by
announcing military exercises o the northern and southern ends of Taiwan in
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/16/america-musters-the-worlds-biggest-naval-exercise 3/9
8/24/2020 No drunken sailors - America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise | International | The Economist
announcing military exercises o the northern and southern ends of Taiwan in
response to what it called America’s “serious wrong signals to ‘Taiwan
independence’ forces”. As those drills unfolded, Taiwan’s government said that it
planned to boost defence spending by $1.4bn, an increase of over 10% on current

levels. The purchase of 66 new F-16 aircraft for $8bn, America’s largest sale of
warplanes to Taiwan since 1992, was nalised on August 14th. Taiwan also hopes to
buy American drones, anti-ship missiles and naval mines to help deter an
invasion.

If that were not enough, trouble is also brewing a short distance to the north-east
of Taiwan over the Japanese-controlled, but Chinese-claimed, Senkaku islands
(known by China as the Diaoyu islands). Japan alleges that Chinese ships have
increasingly sailed into the islands’ territorial waters. Japanese o cials now fear a
surge in the number of Chinese shing boats, many of which are thought to be
paramilitary vessels in civilian guise, after a self-imposed ban by China expires on
August 16th. The islands are covered by the mutual-defence treaty between
America and Japan. On July 29th Lieutenant-General Kevin Schneider, commander
of American forces in Japan, said that America was “100%, absolutely steadfast in
its commitment to help the government of Japan with the situation in the
Senkakus”, promising to help with surveillance of the area.

With so many bones of contention, and with its military edge over China eroding
over the past decade, America is understandably keen on cultivating old and new
friends alike. That is part of the point of gatherings like RIMPAC. James Stavridis, a
former American admiral, has noted that the exercise serves as a “visible signal of
the most important militaries of the vast Paci c Basin being willing to share
training, tactics and technology”. It also serves to highlight an enduring American
advantage in its competition with China: the idea that China could persuade so
many diverse and friendly countries to gather for meaningful war games is
implausible.

Although the pandemic means that only about ten countries and 20 ships will take
part this year, RIMPAC has grown steadily in size over the past decade. Attendees in
2018 included not only America’s stalwart treaty allies, like Australia, Japan and
South Korea, but also old enemies, like Vietnam, embryonic friends, like India, and
outside powers deepening their involvement in Asia, like France and Britain.
(China which had been invited to the 2014 and 2016 iterations of RIMPAC as a
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/16/america-musters-the-worlds-biggest-naval-exercise 4/9
8/24/2020 No drunken sailors - America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise | International | The Economist
(China, which had been invited to the 2014 and 2016 iterations of RIMPAC as a
gesture of goodwill, was disinvited from the 2018 drills because of its perceived
aggression in the South China Sea.)

That re ects a widespread and growing concern over China’s increasingly assertive
behaviour, such as its incursions on the India-China border this year and its
economic arm-twisting of Australia. “Beijing knows full well that it currently faces
numerous challenges, both internally with its economy having taken a hit from the
pandemic, as well as externally with countries—particularly in the West—
expressing uncertainty over Beijing’s trajectory,” says Veerle Nouwens of the Royal
United Services Institute, a think-tank in London. But even as countries reassess
their ties to China, the air is heavy with a sense of doubt over America’s staying-
power and dependability in the region, particularly as the military balance
continues to tilt in China’s favour.

Consider the case of Australia, which on July 1st published a gloomy update to its
defence strategy. “The prospect of high-intensity military con ict in the Indo-
Paci c is less remote than in the past,” it warned; Australia could no longer count
on having ten years’ warning of an attack. The paper acknowledged that only
America could o er protection against nuclear weapons. But for other
contingencies, Australia would have to hedge its bets by deepening ties with new
partners, like Japan, India and Indonesia, “tak[ing] greater responsibility for [its]
own security”; and enhancing its “self-reliant ability to deliver deterrent e ects”.
Even America's staunchest friends are not certain that it will be around when
things get rough.

Readers’ favourites
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

When covid-19 becomes a chronic illness

UNITED STATES

Democrats set factionalism aside for the big push against Donald Trump
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/16/america-musters-the-worlds-biggest-naval-exercise 5/9
8/24/2020 No drunken sailors - America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise | International | The Economist
Democrats set factionalism aside for the big push against Donald Trump

BRITAIN

How social media made Gymshark

Reuse this content The Trust Project

More from International

https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/16/america-musters-the-worlds-biggest-naval-exercise 6/9
8/24/2020 No drunken sailors - America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise | International | The Economist

Angst in the Aegean

A row between Turkey and Greece over gas is raising tension in the
eastern Mediterranean

A mixed prognosis

The covid-19 pandemic will be over

by the end of 2021, says Bill Gates

Plenty more phish in the sea

During the pandemic a digital

crimewave has ooded the internet

The best of our journalism,

hand-picked each day
Sign up to our free daily newsletter, The Economist today

→ Sign up now

https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/16/america-musters-the-worlds-biggest-naval-exercise 7/9
8/24/2020 No drunken sailors - America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise | International | The Economist

Subscribe Group subscriptions

Help

Keep updated

Published since September 1843 to take part in “a severe contest

between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid
ignorance obstructing our progress.”

The Economist The Economist Group

About The Economist Group

Advertise The Economist Intelligence Unit
Press centre The Economist Store
Careers
Which MBA?
GMAT Tutor
GRE Tutor
Executive Jobs
Executive Education Navigator

Terms of Use Privacy Cookie Policy Manage Cookies Accessibility Modern Slavery Statement

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2020. All rights reserved.

https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/16/america-musters-the-worlds-biggest-naval-exercise 8/9
8/24/2020 No drunken sailors - America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise | International | The Economist

https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/16/america-musters-the-worlds-biggest-naval-exercise 9/9