ABOARD THE USCGC WAESCHE (AP) – China has been boarding ships looking for mock pirates and contraband as it joins the world’s largest maritime exercises for the first time.
On Wednesday, Chinese sailors from the destroyer Haikou boarded the Coast Guard cutter Waesche for a drill checking cargo as part of Rim of the Pacific exercises the U.S. is hosting in Hawaii waters this month. The Americans played the role of a merchant ship carrying valuable paintings.
Coast Guard Lt. Gregory Ostrov, exercise safety officer for the drill, said the Chinese sailors were eager to cooperate and demonstrate their proficiency as mariners.
“It was a lot fun. It was a great opportunity to build interoperability and also share tactics and procedures and just observe the way they conduct the same missions as we do,” Ostrov said.
China will also participate in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise. The hospital ship Peace Ark is among the four Chinese ships in Hawaii. China has four ships and two helicopters at the exercises.