Almost 30 countries are coming together in Hawaii for the largest international naval exercise, RIMPAC, where the focus is on the importance of U.S. allies and partners.
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00:00Almost 30 countries have gathered in Hawaii for the world's largest naval exercises,
00:05known as RIMPAC. We'll be covering these drills over the next few weeks.
00:22Our reporter Jaime O'Connor is joining us now from Honolulu.
00:25Jaime, what have we seen from the exercises so far?
00:30Well, like you said, these are the world's largest navy exercises,
00:34and the main focus here is to build connections and partnerships.
00:38And it's also a rare chance for the countries here to learn from one another and practice out at sea.
00:43Now, we were actually invited by some of those countries to check out some of the warships
00:47that will be participating in this year's drills,
00:49and we actually got to speak to some of those sailors that were on board.
00:54Australian and Peruvian sailors.
00:57An unlikely pairing, but coming together here in Hawaii.
01:01Every two years, navies from around the world gather at the Pearl Harbor Navy Base in Honolulu.
01:07They're here for RIMPAC.
01:09Also known as the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, it's organized by the U.S.,
01:14and it's the world's largest international naval drill,
01:17intended to strengthen cooperation with countries around the Pacific Ocean.
01:21The U.S. also invites allies from Europe and elsewhere.
01:24This year, more than 30 vessels, 150 aircraft, and 25,000 personnel will be taking part in the exercise.
01:31Taiwan has never participated in RIMPAC, despite recent calls from U.S. lawmakers to extend an invite.
01:38RIMPAC officials here told Taiwan Plus the decision is in line with the U.S.'s One China policy.
01:44For sailors here, RIMPAC is a rare opportunity to reconnect with old friends.
01:51I've been meeting a lot of classmates. I didn't know they were here.
01:54I have a classmate in the Peruvian ship, I have a classmate in the Malaysian ship,
01:58and there's a bunch of classmates that are just stationed here, so it's wonderful.
02:01It's how small the Navy world is.
02:04For others, it's a chance to learn something new.
02:07Because RIMPAC has a wide variety of countries' navies to such extent,
02:15so this is a precious opportunity for us.
02:18It's really fun, good conversation.
02:20But also at work, it's really fun being able to do large-scale exercises with other navies
02:24and how we work together. It's really impressive.
02:30But RIMPAC is not just about forging connections.
02:33It's also about demonstrating unity.
02:36In recent years, China has increased its military presence around Taiwan,
02:40the South China Sea, and in the wider Indo-Pacific region.
02:45While officials at RIMPAC are careful about the wording they use,
02:48analysts here in Hawaii say China is the main concern.
02:52This is essentially the primary competitor, not the only one in the Indo-Pacific,
02:57but certainly this is what we see as what the United States calls the pacing challenge,
03:02the challenge to come.
03:04And so RIMPAC is a way to actually respond to what could happen
03:09and hopefully deter a future war.
03:13RIMPAC is all part of a strategy to maintain regional security
03:17through cooperation between the U.S. and its allies and partners.
03:21This is the HMAS Sydney, the only warship from Australia here.
03:25And as the country looks to be more active in the Indo-Pacific region,
03:28the crew from this ship is looking to take the lessons they learned from RIMPAC
03:32and apply them when they get back home.
03:34A big part of these exercises is learning how each navy operates,
03:38how they can come together to form an effective fighting force.
03:42That means relying on each navy's capabilities, especially during a conflict.
03:47I would say trust is a key part of it, but it's the communication that is critical.
03:51And to achieve effective communication, you need to be with each other,
03:56talk a common language, which most navies do,
03:59and to actually have time to actually engage each other so you can approach problems.
04:04With the security environment in Asia growing more complex,
04:07RIMPAC is an attempt to show that in the face of an increasingly assertive China,
04:12for the U.S. and its allies, there's still strength in numbers.
04:18So as you saw there, many of those ships are still actually docked at Pearl Harbor Navy Days.
04:22That's because they're not quite ready to head out to sea yet.
04:25However, next week we'll be joining some of those ships to see what they've been learning
04:29and to see what they can put in action when they conduct live fire exercises in the Pacific Ocean.
04:35So for many sailors here, they'll have the long weekend, the July 4th long weekend,
04:39to get ready, get all the equipment they need before they head out to sea,
04:42which will last for two weeks. Sandy, back to you.