By Wang Daning
The 30th "Rim of the Pacific" (RIMPAC) joint military exercise, led by the US, officially kicked off in and around the Hawaiian Islands on June 24. This year's exercise is not only unprecedented in scale, but also features a stronger emphasis on major-country competition in both its strategic orientation and tactical arrangements, warranting close attention and vigilance.
Building exclusive bloc barriers
The exercise is scheduled to run through July 31, lasting 38 days. It is the largest in RIMPAC's history, bringing together 31 participating countries, approximately 25,000 military personnel, more than 40 surface vessels, 5 submarines, and about 140 military aircraft of various types. In terms of the composition of participating forces, the US and its four major regional allies—Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Australia, and Canada—form the core operational tier, while Southeast Asian and European countries play supporting roles, and Pacific Island nations are primarily responsible for logistics and intelligence support. The entire division of responsibilities is structured around the US-led alliance hierarchy.
Southeast Asian countries have also deepened their participation. The Philippines deployed a newly commissioned frigate and anti-submarine helicopters for the entire exercise, while Malaysia and Indonesia dispatched patrol vessels to take part in anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasure drills. Several European countries also traveled across the globe under the banner of strengthening security cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners. Spain and the Netherlands each deployed a guided-missile frigate, Italy sent a multi-purpose patrol vessel, and France dispatched the Prairial light frigate.
Strong combat orientation
According to a press release issued by the US military, the exercise focuses on high-intensity maritime confrontation scenarios, including anti-access operations in distant waters and sea lane blockade. Particular emphasis is placed on drills involving the detection of and countermeasures against submarines and surface vessels of potential adversaries operating in distant waters, underscoring its strong combat orientation.
In addition, the exercise themes of "Partners: Integrated" and "Prepared" run throughout all training activities. "Integration" focuses on interoperability in multinational command, communications, and data sharing, while "preparation" focuses on building combat readiness capabilities under high-intensity conflict scenarios. Both directly reflect the "integrated deterrence" strategy promoted by the US military in recent years. For the first time, this year's exercise also incorporates operations in the space, cyber, and electromagnetic domains into its training activities, while deploying unmanned underwater vehicles, drones, and other autonomous systems on a large scale to test the concept of "distributed maritime operations" and address capability gaps in intelligent warfare across the US and its alliance network.
Delegating authority to bind allies closer
A major objective of this US-led exercise is to integrate the capabilities of regional allies and strengthen US control over them. Accordingly, the exercise command structure features a new arrangement: for the first time since RIMPAC was established more than half a century ago, the US military has incorporated senior officers from multiple countries into the core command chain. The commander of the US Third Fleet serves as commander of the exercise's Combined Task Force, while officers from Chile and Japan serve as deputy commanders. Canada is responsible for air component command, and command and operational control of the Combined Force Maritime Component Command has been entrusted to the ROK.
This allocation of responsibilities reflects the US concept of "distributed leadership" in practice. The decentralized command structure essentially serves as a new means for the US to more closely bind its allies to its strategic agenda and deepen defense integration. By expanding the operational authority of major allies such as the ROK, Japan, and Canada, the US can compel them to align with US military standards for communications, operational procedures, and intelligence transmission protocols, achieving deep interoperability of weapons systems and data links and firmly embedding them into a US-led combat system. As the US "Indo-Pacific" alliance system evolves from "unipolar dominance" toward "networked distributed leadership," the US military is encouraging its allies to independently undertake multinational command responsibilities in an effort to enhance its own strategic flexibility.
Worsening the regional security situation
The agenda and force employment of this exercise consistently serve US strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific, with its provocative nature and coercive posture far exceeding those of previous iterations. Through a series of tactical arrangements, the US seeks to forge its allies into a military machine with a clearly defined division of labor, building an ever-tightening strategic containment posture. However, such exclusive bloc confrontation driven by a Cold War mentality will only heighten the risks of regional bloc politics and arms races, undermine the security landscape in the Asia-Pacific and beyond, and severely constrain the development prospects of regional countries.
Japan is also using the opportunity to expand its military role. In addition to participating in RIMPAC, Japan is conducting two other large-scale exercises with the US in the Western Pacific—"Resolute Dragon" from June 20 to 30 and "Valiant Shield" from June 22 to July 1. The three exercises are interconnected in both timing and operational tasks, forming a training network that covers the full spectrum of combat scenarios and reflecting ongoing efforts by the US and Japan to develop a joint blockade operational system with the US at its core, Japan as the frontline force and other countries providing support. Japan's actions, which have heightened regional tensions, have already sparked widespread public concern and protests at home.