By Zachary Keck
The U.S. military’s Stars and Stripes is out today with a report that China has officially accepted an invitation to participate in RIMPAC in 2014.
The biannual exercise is one of the United States’ largest military exercises in the Pacific region with twenty-two nations participating in 2012, up from fourteen in 2010. RIMPAC typically includes sea drills, war games and humanitarian assistance exercises, according to S&S.
The announcement is hardly unexpected. The U.S. has been signaling its interest in having China join the multinational exercise since Beijing’s exclusion at last year’s event generated media attention. An official invitation went out to the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in January, which PLAN accepted last month according to the S&S report.
Read the full story at The Diplomat