I hold out little hope that someone who knows what they are talking about (we’re getting increasingly unpopular on FR) can make a dent in the clueless outrage sure to fill this thread, but here goes....
1) Can’t really go into it but we’ve learned quite of interesting information from previous exercises with the Chinese, including their weaknesses - more than they learn about us.
2) RIMPAC isn’t the “real” exercise. VALIANT SHIELD is the “real” exercise and I assure you that the Chinese will never, ever, be invited to that one.
The Chinese having a small role in RIMPAC is like a rival coach stopping by for a few minutes during NFL OTAs in the Spring.
VALIANT SHIELD is the Thursday full-pads practice before the Super Bowl.
Even if (and i accept what you’re saying) thats all true we still have their relentless thievery of information by hacking and other more traditional methods. Every little thing including RIMPAC will go towards making them more confident that they can whip us.
As to Valiant Shield how precisely does one conduct naval exercises in this day and age in any sort of secrecy?