US Navy to invite China to next RIMPAC exercise

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the United States plans to invite the Chinese to participate in a massive international maritime exercise, following a successful US-Chinese counter-piracy exercise.

Panetta mentioned the invitation to Chinese Minister of Defence General Liang Guanglie on 18 September, during an official visit to China.

"The United States and China just this week participated in a very successful counter-piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden," Panetta said, "and to build on this positive momentum, I informed General Liang today that the United States Navy will invite China to send a ship to participate in RIMPAC 2014."

The most recent of the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) series, dubbed by the US Navy (USN) to be the world's largest international maritime exercise, officially concluded on 3 August around the Hawaiian Islands.

That event marked the 23rd RIMPAC exercise and involved over 40 ships and submarines and more than 200 aircraft. It included 25,000 personnel from Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, the UK and the US.