iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — In another sign of the heightened tensions over China’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea, the United States has disinvited China from participating in an upcoming large-scale international naval exercise to be held off of Hawaii. Visiting Washington, China’s foreign minister condemned the U.S. move calling it “very unconstructive” and “unhelpful.”

The move is in response to China’s continued placement of military hardware on seven artificial islands in the Spratly Island chain that it claims as its territory.

“China’s continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea only serves to raise tensions and destabilize the region,” said Lt. Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman.

“As an initial response to China’s continued militarization of the South China Sea, we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise,” he added. “China’s behavior is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RIMPAC exercise.”

Held every two years, this year’s version of the RIMPAC exercise was to begin in late June and end in early August. The exercise is largest international Navy exercise, with 27 nations slated to participate in this year’s version.

China’s navy participated in a limited role in the 2014 and 2016 versions of the exercise.

The move to rescind the invitation to participate in this year’s exercise is directly pegged to China’s buildup of large-scale air and sea facilities on the seven artificial islands it has built up in the Spratly Islands.

In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping made assurances to President Barack Obama that China was not seeking to militarize the islands, but satellite photos indicate China has consistently placed military equipment on the islands, and built up runways and port facilities that could be used by China’s military.

“We believe these recent deployments and the continued militarization of these features is a violation of the promise that President Xi made to the United States and the World not to militarize the Spratly Islands,” said Logan.

“We have strong evidence that China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands region of the South China Sea,” said Logan. “China’s landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island has also raised tensions.”

Logan added that while China has claimed that the construction on the islands has been for peaceful purposes “the placement of these weapons systems is only for military use,” said Logan. “We have called on China to remove the military systems immediately and to reverse course on the militarization of disputed South China Sea features.”

The U.S. move was condemned by China’s top diplomat who coincidentally was visiting Washington to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

State Councilor Wang Yi labeled the rescinding of the invitation “very unconstructive” and “unhelpful to mutual understanding.”

“We hope the U.S. will change such a negative mindset,” he said at a press conference with Mike Pompeo. He added that both the U.S. and China are “big countries” and there should be “greater cooperation at mil-to-mil (military) exchanges to increase mutual trust.”

Wang also dismissed claims of “the so-called militarization” of the islands in the South China Sea.

“China is only building civilian and some necessary defense facilities on our own islands,” he said. “That is the right to self-defense and preservation of every sovereign state,” said Wang who compared the buildup to U.S. bases on Guam and Hawaii though on a “smaller scale” and only defensive in nature.

While not addressing the rescinded invitation directly, Pompeo said the U.S. has “expressed consistent concern about militarization of the South China Sea. We had a chance to talk about that, and I will leave to our militaries to talk about their efforts together.”

News of the U.S. action was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.</s>The U.S. has conducted two so-called freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea this year. China condemned that most recent as an “illegal provocation.” | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images U.S. kicks China out of military exercise

The United States has revoked an invitation to China's People's Liberation Army Navy to participate in a naval exercise, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, citing Beijing's destabilizing moves in the South China Sea — including deploying weapons and other military equipment on contested islands and artificial reefs.

China announced in January that it had accepted a U.S. invitation to participate in the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise, the world's largest international maritime wargame.

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The PLA Navy contributed five ships to the last one, in 2016, which included the militaries of 26 nations. China first participated in 2014, when it sent four ships along with an uninvited spy ship that skirted the exercise area.

“As an initial response to China's continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Logan of the Marine Corps said in a statement.

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The United States, he added, has “strong evidence” China has deployed anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles and electronic jamming systems on artificial islands in the Spratly Islands chain that Vietnam and Taiwan also claim as their territory. “China’s landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island has also raised tensions."

The United States maintains that “these recent deployments and the continued militarization of these features is a violation of the promise that President Xi made to the United States and the world not to militarize the Spratly Islands,” Logan said.

The action comes as the United States and China are engaged in high-level talks aimed at averting a tit-for-tat trade war. Last week, negotiators reached a preliminary deal for China to buy more U.S. goods and to address other concerns. But U.S. officials have warned they could revive their threat to impose tariffs on $50 billion to $150 billion worth of Chinese goods if a final deal is not reached.

China is also playing a crucial diplomatic role in the run-up to a potential summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to dismantle its nuclear and missile programs.

There was no immediate response from the Chinese government about the decision to revoke its invitation to the naval exercise.

China had already based missiles on Woody Island and other military equipment on artificial islands it has built in the area before the revelation earlier this month that it had positioned anti-ship cruise missiles on three reefs in the Spratlys, a move first reported by CNBC. Those are seen as threats to U.S. aircraft carriers that operate in the region.

The United States has conducted two so-called freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea this year. The most recent was in March, when a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near an artificial reef in the Spratlys that China seized from the Philippines more than 20 years ago.

The Chinese military condemned that operation as an “illegal provocation.”

Testifying to the Senate Armed Services Committee last month, the new top U.S. officer in the Pacific, Adm. Philip Davidson, said that "China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States” and would be able to use its bases in the Spratlys “to extend its influence thousands of miles to the south.”

Also last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping presided over a large-scale review of Chinese naval forces in the South China Sea.</s>In another sign of the heightened tensions over China's militarization of islands in the South China Sea, the United States has disinvited China from participating in an upcoming large-scale international naval exercise to be held off of Hawaii. Visiting Washington, China's foreign minister condemned the U.S. move calling it "very unconstructive" and "unhelpful."

The move is in response to China's continued placement of military hardware on seven artificial islands in the Spratly Island chain that it claims as its territory.

"China's continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea only serves to raise tensions and destabilize the region," said Lt. Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman.

"As an initial response to China's continued militarization of the South China Sea, we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise," he added. "China's behavior is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RIMPAC exercise."

Held every two years, this year's version of the RIMPAC exercise was to begin in late June and end in early August. The exercise is largest international Navy exercise, with 27 nations slated to participate in this year's version.

China's navy participated in a limited role in the 2014 and 2016 versions of the exercise.

The move to rescind the invitation to participate in this year's exercise is directly pegged to China's buildup of large-scale air and sea facilities on the seven artificial islands it has built up in the Spratly Islands.

In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping made assurances to President Barack Obama that China was not seeking to militarize the islands, but satellite photos indicate China has consistently placed military equipment on the islands, and built up runways and port facilities that could be used by China's military.

"We believe these recent deployments and the continued militarization of these features is a violation of the promise that President Xi made to the United States and the World not to militarize the Spratly Islands," said Logan.

"We have strong evidence that China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands region of the South China Sea," said Logan. "China's landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island has also raised tensions."

Logan added that while China has claimed that the construction on the islands has been for peaceful purposes "the placement of these weapons systems is only for military use," said Logan. "We have called on China to remove the military systems immediately and to reverse course on the militarization of disputed South China Sea features."

The U.S. move was condemned by China's top diplomat who coincidentally was visiting Washington to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

State Councilor Wang Yi labeled the rescinding of the invitation "very unconstructive" and "unhelpful to mutual understanding."

"We hope the U.S. will change such a negative mindset," he said at a press conference with Mike Pompeo. He added that both the U.S. and China are "big countries" and there should be "greater cooperation at mil-to-mil (military) exchanges to increase mutual trust."

Wang also dismissed claims of "the so-called militarization" of the islands in the South China Sea.

"China is only building civilian and some necessary defense facilities on our own islands," he said. "That is the right to self-defense and preservation of every sovereign state," said Wang who compared the buildup to U.S. bases on Guam and Hawaii though on a "smaller scale" and only defensive in nature.

While not addressing the rescinded invitation directly, Pompeo said the U.S. has "expressed consistent concern about militarization of the South China Sea. We had a chance to talk about that, and I will leave to our militaries to talk about their efforts together."

News of the U.S. action was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.</s>WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Wednesday uninvited China from a major U.S.-hosted naval drill in response to what it sees as Beijing’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea, a decision China called unconstructive.

“As an initial response to China’s continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise,” said Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman.

PLA is the English-language acronym of China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army.

Logan did not specify what else the U.S. government might do to respond but stressed there was “strong evidence” that China had deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands.

“We find that a very unconstructive move,” the Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councilor Wang Yi, told reporters in Washington after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Wang described China’s activity in the South China Sea as self-defense, saying it was working on a “much smaller scale” than what the United States had done in Hawaii and Guam.

“We hope that the U.S. will change such a negative mindset.”

Over the weekend China’s air force landed bombers on disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea as part of a training exercise in the region, triggering concern from Vietnam and the Philippines.

Satellite photographs taken on May 12 showed China appeared to have deployed truck-mounted surface-to-air missiles or anti-ship cruise missiles at Woody Island in the Paracel island chain to the north of the Spratlys, said Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Poling, who heads CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, said the images showed China had also deployed J-11 combat aircraft as part of its exercises.

He said later satellite images, taken on May 20 and published by Fox News, showed the missile systems still in place, suggesting they could be there to stay.

The Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC, is billed as the world’s largest international maritime exercise, held every two years in Hawaii in June and July, and China has attended previously.

Abraham Denmark, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia under President Barack Obama, said the move was largely symbolic.

“To me it shows that the relationship is veering towards increasingly intense competition and the Pentagon sees diminishing returns on the value of military to military cooperation with China,” Denmark said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has praised China in recent months for its help putting pressure on North Korea, even amid concerns about a potential trade war between Washington and Beijing, the world’s two largest economies.

Earlier this month the United States said it had raised concerns with China about its latest militarization of the South China Sea and said there would be near-term and long-term consequences.

Pentagon officials have long complained that China has not been candid enough about its rapid military build-up and using South China Sea islands to gather intelligence in the region.

Chinese officials have accused Washington of viewing their country in suspicious, “Cold War” terms.

“On the so-called militarization in the South China Sea, we talked about this issue just now … It is a normal deployment and has nothing to do with militarization,” Wang said.

The United States has dispatched warships to disputed areas of the South China Sea in a bid to challenge China’s extensive sovereignty claims in the territory, which is subject to various claims by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. — Reporting by Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart, David Brunnstrom and Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by James Dalgleish and Tom Brown</s>The Pentagon’s withdrawal of an invitation for China to take part in a multinational naval drill in the Pacific this summer has put military trust between the two sides under greater strain, analysts say.

The US military said on Thursday it had disinvited China from the Rim of the Pacific exercises, the world’s biggest international naval drill, citing “China’s continued militarisation of the South China Sea”.

It came just days after China’s air force landed an advanced H-6K strategic bomber on Woody Island in the Paracel group and deployed radar position, anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles on three newly built features on Fiery Cross Reef, Mischief Reef and Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands.

Subi Reef, located some 1,200km (750 miles) from China’s coast, now has nearly 400 individual buildings – far more than the other Chinese islands according to private sector data, Reuters reported on Thursday. It could be the future location of hundreds of Chinese marines and a possible administrative hub as Beijing tries to cement its claim to the disputed waterway with a civilian presence, security analysts and diplomatic sources said.

The Pentagon said in a statement that Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea “raise tensions and destabilise the region” so it had cancelled the invitation.

China’s defence ministry responded that “invited or not, China will never change its determination ... to firmly defend its national sovereignty and security interests” in the South China Sea.

Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang reiterated Beijing’s claims over the South China Sea islands, saying its construction and deployment of military facilities there was “legitimate” and “necessary”, and had “absolutely nothing to do with militarisation”.

China protests being kicked out of US military exercise

China took part in the US-led Rim of the Pacific drill – held off Hawaii every other year in June and July – for the first time in 2014 and again in 2016. This year’s invitation was sent to Beijing in January and a Chinese delegation then went to the US to discuss logistics.

The US withdrawal of an invitation to such a symbolic event comes at a difficult time in relations between the two sides and is potentially just the first setback in military exchanges between them, said Zhang Yuquan, an international relations specialist at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.

“If the US military believes antagonistic acts in the region are in the US interest, we’ll see more of this to come,” Zhang said. “The US has become quite anxious about China’s rise in recent years.”

Philip Davidson, incoming commander of the US armed forces in the Pacific, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month that “China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States”.

Including China in the Pacific drills was “designed to help with misunderstandings and to build upon cooperation, which was supposed to help deal with the most contentious issues”, according to Oriana Skylar Mastro, assistant professor of security studies at Georgetown University and Jeane Kirkpatrick visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

“The logic behind these military exchanges has weakened,” Mastro said.

“The US position was that through engagement, China would come to understand that they were better off when the US is in charge,” she said. “I thought that was naive from the very beginning, but now I think many areas of the US government are coming to that conclusion.”

China’s navy and coastguard stage first joint patrols near disputed South China Sea islands as ‘warning to Vietnam’

But the Pentagon’s move was not a surprise given tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade and politics, and it would not be too much of a loss for the PLA Navy, said Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie. “The Chinese were not part of the core aspects anyway,” he said, referring to the past two drills where China took part in areas such as disaster relief and search and rescue operations.

China’s participation in the past two drills improved understanding between the Chinese, US and other navies, its knowledge of how foreign exercises are conducted, and experience in international search and rescue cooperation – but it did not help much with its military capabilities, according to Li.

“This is a deliberate move to isolate China in the region,” he said. “But the worst aspect is when there’s a need for international cooperation in the future, it won’t be so easy for them to get that from China.”

The decision was announced before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his US counterpart Mike Pompeo in Washington. He said at a joint press conference afterwards that the move was not constructive and was “unhelpful to the trust and cooperation between the Chinese and US militaries”.

Pompeo said he had raised US “concern” with Wang about Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea, and that he would leave decisions about international military exercises to the defence department.</s>The US has disinvited China from a multinational military exercise to be held this summer in the Pacific as “an initial response” to what it called “China’s continued militarisation of the South China Sea”, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

“China’s continued militarisation of disputed features in the South China Sea only serves to raise tensions and destabilise the region,” Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a spokesman at the US Defence Department, said in statement explaining the retraction of China’s invitation to the 2018 Rim of the Pacific naval drills.

US threatens Beijing with ‘consequences’ for ‘militarising South China Sea’

“China’s behaviour is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the Rim of the Pacific exercises.”

The US’s move comes just days after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force disclosed that its highly advanced H-6K strategic bomber landed for the first time on an island reef in the South China Sea.

The invitation’s withdrawal coincides with a meeting in Washington between visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which is expected to take place on Wednesday afternoon.

China angers US by landing bombers on South China Sea reef

In its statement, the Pentagon said the US had “strong evidence that China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands (Nansha in Mandarin) region of the South China Sea”.

“China’s landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island (Yongxing in Mandarin) has also raised tensions,” the statement said.

Hong Kong-based military observer Song Zhongping said China’s landing of the H-6K bomber on Woody Island was aimed at strengthening China’s military presence in the region after US B-52 bombers flew there during a so-called routine training mission in April, flights described by Beijing as a “provocative move”.

The US has called on China to remove the military systems immediately and reverse course on the militarisation of disputed South China Sea features, the Pentagon said.

The PLA Navy had been invited in May 2017 to take part in this year’s Rim of the Pacific exercises. The world’s largest international naval exercise, it is held biennially in the summer months of even-numbered years in the waters around the Hawaiian islands and southern California.

Twenty-six nations originally were to participate in the drill, which usually lasts a couple of weeks.

China has taken part twice. In 2016, its navy dispatched five ships and 1,200 personnel to the exercises.

Earlier this month, the White House had said it was prepared to take measures against the militarisation of the South China Sea, after Beijing reportedly installed new missiles on outposts in the Spratlys which are also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines.

US bombers carry out drills ‘in vicinity’ of South China Sea

“We’re well aware of China’s militarisation of the South China Sea,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said at the time. “We’ve raised concerns directly with the Chinese about this, and there will be near-term and long-term consequences.”

US network CNBC had reported that the Chinese military had installed anti-ship and air-to-air defences on the islands, citing sources close to US intelligence.

China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying had refused to confirm or deny the deployment.

“China’s peaceful construction in the Spratly archipelago, including the deployment of necessary national defence facilities, is aimed at protecting China’s sovereignty and security,” she said. “Those who don’t intend to violate [this sovereignty] have no reason to worry.”

US defence official accuses China of ‘predatory economic activities’

The US Navy itself frequently sends warships and aircraft carriers to patrol the area.

“China has to realise that they’ve benefited from the free navigation of the sea, and the US Navy has been the guarantor of that,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said. “We will continue to do our operations.”</s>The Pentagon disinvited China from participating in a major naval exercise on Wednesday, signaling mounting U.S. anger over Beijing’s expanded military footprint in disputed areas of the South China Sea.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Logan said the Defense Department had reversed an earlier invitation to the Chinese Navy to the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the world’s largest international naval exercise, over the decision to place anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and electronic jammers in the Spratly Islands.

“While China has maintained that the construction of the islands is to ensure safety at sea, navigation assistance, search and rescue, fisheries protection, and other non-military functions the placement of these weapon systems is only for military use,” Logan said in a statement.

He described the activities as a “violation of the promise that [Chinese] President Xi made to the United States and the world.”

“We have called on China to remove the military systems immediately and to reverse course on the militarization of disputed South China Sea features,” Logan said.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has disinvited China from a major U.S.-hosted naval drill this year as an “initial” response to what it sees as Beijing’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

“As an initial response to China’s continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise,” Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

The Pentagon said there was “strong evidence” that China had deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands.

Over the weekend China’s air force landed bombers on islands and reefs in the South China Sea as part of a training exercise in the disputed region.

The move comes on the same day China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington.

The Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC, is billed as the world’s largest international maritime exercise, held every two years in Hawaii in June and July, and China has attended previously.

Earlier this month the United States said it had raised concerns with China about its latest militarization of the South China Sea and that there would be near-term and long-term consequences.

Pentagon officials have long complained that China has not been candid enough about its rapid military build-up, whereas Chinese officials have accused Washington of viewing their country in suspicious, “Cold War” terms.

The United States has dispatched warships to disputed areas of the South China Sea in a bid to challenge China’s extensive sovereignty claims in the territory, which is subject to various claims by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.

“We have called on China to remove the military systems immediately and to reverse course on the militarization of disputed South China Sea features,” Logan said.</s>China’s continued militarization of the South China Sea has led the U.S. military to disinvite Beijing’s navy from the upcoming Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise in Hawaii, a Defense Department spokesman announced.

China’s participation in the major biennial maritime war games since 2012 has been a bone of contention in Washington between pro-China “panda-huggers” and specialists warning of the rising China threat. The exercise is hosted by the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet.

Department of Defense spokesman Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Logan said the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) would not be participating in RIMPAC 2018 despite its participation in submarine safety and other non-warfighting components of the exercise in previous years.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, asked by the Washington Examiner if the decision could spark new tensions with China, said:

“We are not ratcheting up anything. In fact, we believe firmly in a stable Pacific. What we are doing is we are cooperating with China wherever we can, and we are going to have to also confront them when we believe that the rule of law or that matters that can destabilize the region are being pursued.”

U.S. 3rd Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Julie Holland told USNI News that China had been scheduled to be part of the Combined Task Force (CTF) 175, led by U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL-750) and joined by ships from several nations’ navies, as well as in CTF 171, led by U.S. naval expeditionary dive and salvage forces. PLAN would have brought four ships total, including its hospital ship Peace Ark, as well as a salvage diving team, Holland said.

“The United States is committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific. China’s continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea only serve to raise tensions and destabilize the region. As an initial response to China’s continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise. China’s behavior is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RIMPAC exercise.”

“We have strong evidence that China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands region of the South China Sea. China’s landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island has also raised tensions.”

“While China has maintained that the construction of the islands is to ensure safety at sea, navigation assistance, search and rescue, fisheries protection, and other non-military functions the placement of these weapon systems is only for military use.”

“We have called on China to remove the military systems immediately and to reverse course on the militarization of disputed South China Sea features.”

“We believe these recent deployments and the continued militarization of these features is a violation of the promise that President Xi made to the United States and the World not to militarize the Spratly Islands.”

Login To Your FaceBook to Make Comments</s>The Pentagon has rescinded an invitation to China to participate in an international military exercise in the Pacific Ocean next month, sending a signal of disapproval to Beijing for what U.S. officials say is its refusal to back off on militarizing islands in the South China Sea.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, after weeks of internal debate within the Pentagon, concluded that China shouldn’t be allowed to participate in the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise, slated to begin later in June, according to U.S. officials. The...
The Pentagon announces that it has "disinvited" China from this year's biennial Rim of the Pacific naval exercise, after China announced in January that it had accepted the United States' invitation.