By Zachary Keck
The top U.S. military leader in the Pacific sees a silver lining in China’s military surveillance of RIMPAC.
The top U.S. commander in the Pacific said he welcomes China’s spying on the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maritime exercises.
As The Diplomat previously noted, China sent an uninvited Dongdiao-class auxiliary general intelligence (AGI) ship to the 22-nation maritime exercise off the coast of Hawaii this month. The ship, which is operating inside Hawaii’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), is “designed to gather electronic and communication data from surrounding vessels and aircraft,” according to USNI News. Although China sent a similar vessel to observe the RIMPAC exercise in 2012, this year China is actually participating in the exercise for the first time.
But Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM)– which leads RIMPAC– is not only unconcerned about China’s surveillance, he appears to actually welcome it in some regards. When asked about the AGI ship’s presence at RIMPAC during a press conference on Tuesday, the admiral began by responding:
“The good news about this is that it’s a recognition, I think, or an acceptance by the Chinese of what we’ve been saying to them for some time, [which] is that military operations and survey operations in another country’s EEZs, where you have national — your own national security interest, are within international law and are acceptable. And this is a fundamental right that nations have.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat