The United States led the 29-nation coalition forces to rehearse and "sink" the Type 075 amphibious assault ship in the Pacific Ocean, but unexpectedly, the PLA made a preemptive strike and sent warships to "walk thousands of miles and ride two horses" and drive directly into the "backyard" of the United States.
Recently, the US military has been very busy, not only to deal with the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but also to continue to "do things" in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to the USS Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, which is holding the "Freedom Blade" joint military exercise with Japan and South Korea in the Sea of Japan, the biennial "Rim of the Pacific" multinational maritime exercise has opened in the waters off Hawaii.
(RIMPAC 2024 Multinational Maritime Exercise Opens in Hawaii)
The "RIMPAC 2024" multinational maritime exercise has formed a 29-nation coalition, and of course the United States is the boss. One of the highlights of the exercise was the sinking of a "40,000-ton decommissioned amphibious assault ship" with live ammunition. Western media generally believe that the United States is pulling its allies together to rehearse how to "sink" the PLA's Type 075 amphibious assault ship.
This operation seems to be an aggressive and offensive posture by the United States, but when you think about it carefully, it is very ridiculous: In the past, the PLA was studying "ballistic missiles to attack aircraft carriers" and "three attacks and three defenses," but now it is actually the turn of the US military to drill and fight "PLA amphibious assault ships" in Hawaii. Decades of feng shui have taken turns, is the US military still the "hegemon of the sea"?
(The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted two PLA warships entering the Pacific Ocean through the Miyako Strait)
What the United States did not expect even more was that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) came first to come out with a "two-mile ride," and the warship drove directly into the "backyard" of the United States -- the South Pacific. According to the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, in order to participate in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Tonga Navy, our army sent the 052D Zibo ship and the 903A Gaoyouhu ship to form a ship formation, which entered the Pacific Ocean through the Miyako Strait, which lasted half a month and had a voyage of more than 5,000 nautical miles, and has now arrived in Tonga. The two warships will participate in the Tonga Navy's parade, in stark contrast to the U.S.-hosted "Rim of the Pacific 2024" military exercise, one advocating maritime cooperation and peace, and the other provoking confrontation and conflict at sea.
Please note that PLA ship formations and military aircraft (such as Y-20 transport planes) have repeatedly entered the South Pacific region. The United States and Australia have always regarded the region as a "backyard" that no other major power should touch, and China clearly wants to break this bad colonial habit of the Anglo-Saxons. Since the "RIMPAC 2024" military exercise will last for more than a month and will not end until August 4, it cannot be ruled out that the Zibo and Gaoyouhu warships will go to Hawaiian waters to "watch" the military exercise organized by the United States after concluding their visit to Tonga.
In addition, Japan's Self-Defense Forces also monitored that an electronic reconnaissance ship of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) entered the Pacific Ocean through the Straits north of the Tsushima Strait, the Sea of Japan, and Hokkaido.
(Tonga Islands location.) Two warships of the PLA Navy will participate in the parade of the Tongan Navy)
Since 1988, the U.S. Navy has held the "Rim of the Pacific" multinational joint exercise, which initially had a strong anti-Soviet connotation, with the aim of uniting "allies" in the Pacific region against the Soviet Navy's Pacific Fleet, but soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, when the Chinese Navy had not yet risen, the exercise once lost its purpose, so it was only held several times irregularly in the following two decades.
Until 2010, RIMPAC began to be held every two years. In 2014, the Chinese Navy was invited to send a destroyer and a frigate for the first time. Then in 2016, he was again invited to participate in the RIMPAC exercise. However, as China's national strength has developed by leaps and bounds and its military strength has also been greatly enhanced, the "RIMPAC Rim" exercise has begun to "turn sour" and gradually evolve into a joint military exercise aimed at China. In 2018, the Chinese Navy initially received an invitation to participate in the "Rim of the Pacific" exercise that year, but the Pentagon quickly "withdrew the invitation". At this point, the nature of the "RIMPAC exercise" is self-evident.
(List of ships of the US Navy participating in RIMPAC 2024)
This year's RIMPAC 2024 exercise has two major features:
First, judging from the number of warships sent by the participating countries, except for the 17 warships sent by the host country, the United States, including the USS Carl Vinson, to participate in the exercise, Japan and South Korea were the most "active." Japan sent six warships, including the Izumo light aircraft carrier, and South Korea also sent four warships. Nine of the other 26 participating countries did not send any warships to participate in the exercise, and most of the rest sent one or two warships to "make sense". It can be seen that Japan and South Korea have become the only two main forces in the "anti-China encirclement" that the United States has built in the Pacific region.
(List of ships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force participating in RIMPAC 2024)
(List of ships of the ROK Navy participating in RIMPAC 2024)
Second, some European countries are being "coerced" by the United States to meddle in Pacific affairs. France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands all sent warships to participate in the exercise, and the Netherlands participated in the exercise, including the frigate Tromp, which recently passed through the Taiwan Strait and "made trouble" in the East China Sea. This trend is quite akin to NATO's eastward expansion. In addition, the Indian Navy also sent a frigate to participate, indicating that the Modi government continues to participate in the so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy" of the United States in its third term.
The focus of the US military's propaganda in the "RIMPAC 2024" exercise is to sink a 40,000-ton decommissioned amphibious assault ship with live ammunition, which is obviously aimed at the PLA's amphibious combat forces. The PLA's amphibious combat forces are generally believed to be mainly used in the direction of the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, and the implication of this move by the United States is very obvious.