PLAN invited to participate in RIMPAC for first the time (2014)

Jeff Head said:

My understanding, and this was from comments that one of the Deputy Secretaries or Commanders of the US Navy said, was that at Jakarta, in a presentation made by a high ranking PRC official, it was announced that the PLAN would be attending RIMPAC 2014 and was accepting the US invitiation. Excatly how that occurred in terms of who passed it along, at least to me, is immaterial.

As it stands, the US is moving forward with China coming and has announced openly as much, and the PRC has certainly not announced that this is a mistake. We do not know otherwise, outside of these announcements, what is happening back channels.

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My read from this line:
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter acknowledged China had agreed to participate in RIMPAC during a little-noticed speech on Wednesday in Jakarta.
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Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter acknowledged, China had agreed to participate in RIMPAC, during a little-noticed speech on Wednesday in Jakarta.

Carter was the one that made the speech

Carter probably got the acknowledgement from Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo, China's deputy chief of general staff



Pentagon Press Secretary George Little provided the following readout:

“Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter visited Jakarta on Tuesday and Wednesday and delivered public remarks at the Jakarta International Defense Dialogue (JIDD). He also met with ministers of defense from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, and with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Committee of Permanent Representatives.

“Deputy Secretary Carter began his visit on Tuesday night at the residence of David Carden, the U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN, where he met the ASEAN Committee of Permanent Representatives. The committee consists of ambassadors from each of the 10 ASEAN member states posted to the ASEAN Secretariat. Deputy Secretary Carter and the ambassadors shared perspectives on regional security issues and discussed U.S. policy in the Asia-Pacific region.

“On Wednesday morning, Deputy Secretary Carter attended the JIDD, where the opening ceremony featured remarks by Timor-Leste President Xanana Gusmao and a keynote by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Deputy Secretary Carter spoke during the event's first session, an international panel, reaffirming the strategic importance of the U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region and outlining how the U.S. is implementing the rebalance from a defense perspective. Other session participants included Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo, China's deputy chief of general staff; Ng Eng Hen, Singapore's minister of defense; and D. Alejandro Enrique Alvarogonzalez San Martin, Spain's secretary general for defense policy.

“On the JIDD sidelines, Deputy Secretary Carter held bilateral meetings with Indonesian Defense Minister Yusgiantoro, Malaysian Defense Minister Zahid, and Singaporean Defense Minister Ng. In each meeting, he discussed ways to deepen bilateral defense partnerships.”

vincent said:

Carter probably got the acknowledgement from Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo, China's deputy chief of general staff

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Excellent article and it makes it pretty clear what happened there.

Thanks for the clarification.

So the US representative gave the speech there, but apparently got word of the acceptance while he was there from Chinese officials also in attendance.

Great. And that's fine. As I stated, to me, the exact way is materialized is not as important as the fact that it did materialize. But, at the same time, we do want to be accurate and I appreciate the details and the clarification.

Great lets get the Liaoning strike group in order this year and out to the excercise next year!

Imagine like 10 PLAN warships turn up at Hawaii totally gate crashing the party!!

asif iqbal said:

Great lets get the Liaoning strike group in order this year and out to the excercise next year!

Imagine like 10 PLAN warships turn up at Hawaii totally gate crashing the party!!

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Wishful thinking at best. PLAN would not do a show of force like that especially when only a single ship is invited for the exercise. Maybe in RIMPAC 2016 or 2018 they'll have Liaoning there especially if they have a good experience in this showing and the USN likes what they see from China this time around.

We like to discuss 'hardware' here however the 'human' aspect is in many ways even more crucial. If PLAN sailors have a blast and their USN counterparts equally enjoy having them there, then PLAN will have a great leg up in future RIMPAC participation.

RIMPAC it's not just a naval exercise although that is the main goal. There is an equally important in-port phase of RIMPAC as well, where officers and crew of the various navies eat together, have both formal and informal meetings together and play volleyball, soccer etc together. IMHO those soft activities are as important as the actual exercise. English is the medium of communication. I hope whatever ship or ships PLAN sends many of the crew is at least somewhat proficient in English.. most definitely the officers.

It would behoove PLAN to give those officers who will be in RIMPAC next year a crash course in English and some Western etiquette so they can be confident and impress the hell out of everyone in 2014 and fully participate in the in-port phase of the program instead of going shopping in Honolulu or surfing the internet in their respective bunks! (serious).

Remember, at the end of the day it's the sailors who will give either a positive or negative impression not their ships and many of these impressions come when the sailors are outside their ship.

you can bet that CIA will be in full recruitment mode

asif iqbal said:

Great lets get the Liaoning strike group in order this year and out to the excercise next year!

Imagine like 10 PLAN warships turn up at Hawaii totally gate crashing the party!!

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LOL! I know you are being humerous...but I could actually see the following if the PRC decided to make the RIMPAC 2014 trip part of somethiing larger. Like a good will tour for the carrier visiting numerous Rim of the Pacific ports in addition to HAwaii.

1 x Liaoning carrier
1 x Type 052C/D DDG
2 x Type 054A FFGs
1 x Replinshment vessel

Either the DDG or one of the FFGs could participate in the exercise.

That would not be overwhelming as in "crashing the party," or seen as an effort to upstage the US who is hosting RIMPAC, particularly if it was announced well in advance that the visit to RIMPAC 2014 in Hawaii was a part of this other, larger scope good will tour. In addition, it would make a very strong statement about the capabilities of the PLAN.

Now, that is probably far too much to expect...but I could see it happening, and it would be a neat thing.

kwaigonegin said:

It would behoove PLAN to give those officers who will be in RIMPAC next year a crash course in English and some Western etiquette so they can be confident and impress the hell out of everyone in 2014 and fully participate in the in-port phase of the program instead of going shopping in Honolulu or surfing the internet in their respective bunks! (serious).

Remember, at the end of the day it's the sailors who will give either a positive or negative impression not their ships and many of these impressions come when the sailors are outside their ship.

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If I understand correctly, 100% of PLAN NCO has at least a college degree, which meas their English should be decent (they have to pass some kind of special English exam to graduate, I think).

And based on how the PLA soldiers sent to participate in various international military competitions mingle with other contestants, we shouldn't have to worry about positive impression. Especially with the Generation Y, they know how to party...

vesicles said:

If I understand correctly, 100% of PLAN NCO has at least a college degree, which meas their English should be decent (they have to pass some kind of special English exam to graduate, I think).

And based on how the PLA soldiers sent to participate in various international military competitions mingle with other contestants, we shouldn't have to worry about positive impression. Especially with the Generation Y, they know how to party...

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Good to know then. I hope you are right on.

kwaigonegin said:

Wishful thinking at best. PLAN would not do a show of force like that especially when only a single ship is invited for the exercise. Maybe in RIMPAC 2016 or 2018 they'll have Liaoning there especially if they have a good experience in this showing and the USN likes what they see from China this time around.

.

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Well that was really kind of the point, by no stretch of ones imagination would PLAN be sending 10 warships, I don't think you got the joke