The commander of this year's Rim of the Pacific joint naval exercises commented briefly on Taiwan's non-involvement in the world's largest maritime war drills Tuesday, saying the US will instead focus on supporting Taiwan in "another venue."
"I think maintaining and deepening our unofficial relations with Taiwan is (an) important part of how the United States engages in Asia, certainly a region of greater importance to our country," vice-admiral Kenneth Floyd, the commander of this year's RIMPAC exercise, said during a media conference call.
Given that Taiwan has not previously observed or participated in RIMPAC, the commander of the US Third Fleet said that Washington will continue "to focus on really another venue for supporting Taiwan's development of defense capability" — and the decision not to include Taiwan "was made independently really of the decision to extend the invitation to the People's Republic of China."
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