Last summer, Pacific Rim, an American science fiction monster film, swept the box office. This summer, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC 2014) is catching the eye of the world, because it is the first time China will be participating in a RIMPAC exercise, the largest U.S.-led multilateral naval exercise.
What is the purpose of the exercise? During the Cold War, RIMPAC was directed against the former Soviet Union. Now, who are the Kaijus? They might be terrorism, piracy, natural disasters, and international crimes. The maintenance of maritime security ultimately relies on joint efforts of the international community, whose urgent tasks are peacekeeping operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, law enforcement in counterterrorism and counternarcotics operations, and counter-piracy operations. Just as the brains of two pilots have to be linked to share the mental load of operating a Jaeger, Pacific Rim navies should engage one another and ensure that each is tactically and operationally interoperable with partners in order to facilitate coordination. That might be the rationale behind the RIMPAC exercises.
Why did the U.S. invite China? Officially, it is in line with U.S. Department of Defense’s effort to build cooperative capacity in areas of mutual interest through concrete and practical cooperation. What cannot be openly talked about is that the U.S. wants to know about PLA Navy’s operational capabilities, and to lead PLA’s naval development as well as China’s expansion of national interests along with the “international” rules and norms established by the U.S. Of course, the U.S. also welcomes China’s participation to deal with common security threats in international waters.
What are China’s benefits in participating in the RIMPAC 2014? At the political level, it demonstrates that China is willing to expand cooperation and build trust and mutual understanding with the U.S. military, and it can help infuse more positive energy into the building of a new model of military-to-military relations. Multilaterally, it can help build political ties with the participating navies and serve as a platform for demonstrating that the PLA is a force of peace, assuaging fears about China’s rise, building a foundation of trust and fostering regional security and prosperity. China’s participation also indicates that, though China and the United States differ and quarrel on certain issues, the two nations have been making concrete steps toward trust building. It is encouraging, and acts as a stabilizer for easing regional tensions. At the operational level, the exercise can provide the PLA opportunities to learn from other navies in terms of tactics, techniques, procedures and command and control. The exercise itself is also a good opportunity for the PLA Navy to improve operational capabilities.
What can China and the United States lose? As depicted by the movie, when “mentally linked”, inner vulnerabilities of both sides will be exposed. For China, the weaker party, it will have to bear more pressure of transparency and heavier burdens to undertake more international obligations. For the U.S., it painstakingly sees to it that PLA participation in the exercise complies with applicable U.S. laws related to the disclosure of U.S.-origin defense articles, defense services, technical data, and/or technology to China.
Therefore, there are still obstacles for China to get deeply involved in the RIMPAC exercise. The biggest obstacles are discriminative laws enacted by the United States. For instance, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (NDAA 2000) restricts Sino-U.S. military-to-military engagements. Although China sent four ships, the seven training tasks only cover non-traditional security operations, including artillery firing, comprehensive drill, maritime safety operation, surface vessel drill, military medicine exchange, humanitarian rescue and disaster relief, and diving. By comparison, China-Russia “Joint Sea 2014” from May 20 to 26 involved six surface ships and support vessels, two helicopters and a marine commando unit from Russia and three guided missile destroyers, two guided missile frigates, one comprehensive supply ship, new-type guided missile speedboats, two submarines, multiple-type fixed-wing warplanes, and ship-borne helicopters from China. The tasks included anchorage defense, joint escort, missile defense, anti-ship strike, anti-submarine combat and rescue of hijacked vessels. Different levels of strategic mutual trust can be seen clearly.
Contrary to popular belief, China-U.S. military relations have been improving steadily since the June 2013 Sunnylands summit. There are four highlights: frequent high-level exchanges, practical institutional dialogues, expanded joint training and exercises, and more constructive interaction in the Asia-Pacific region. However, the NDAA 2000 runs counter to the good momentum for developing the new model of Sino-U.S. military-to-military relations, and will surely be a high hurdle. Both sides should set up a working group to address the negative effects of U.S. discriminative laws on confidence-building and cooperation between the two militaries, and propose reasonable suggestions to relevant legislative organs to make revisions.
There are Kaijus across the Asia Pacific region and beyond, China and the U.S. should focus on common interests and work together on issues of common importance. Let’s go fight the Kaijus!
Author’s Note: Kaiju (怪兽) is a Japanese word that literally translates to “strange creature.” In the movie, Kaijus are colossal monsters that have emerged from an inter-dimensional portal on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create the Jaegers, gigantic humanoid robots, each controlled by at least two pilots, whose minds are joined by a neural bridge. This connection is called “drifting”.
Dr. Zhao Weibin is Research Fellow for the Center on China-America Defense Relations (CCADR) at the PLA Academy of Military Science (AMS).
