中国潜艇闪耀环太平洋军事演习

It will be the first mock submarine rescue drill in the history of the RIMPAC, a biennial war game which has been held since 1971.

China's newest submarine rescue ship, the Changdao, is making its debut at this year's exercises, which will last until early August.

Operational since 2013, the Changdao is equipped with a deep submergence rescue vessel and a 1,000-meter remote submersible.

Its rescue vessel can operate for six hours underwater to locate personnel from damaged submarines.

Changdao's captain, Ma Gaofeng, says they're confident the ship will perform well at RIMPAC.

"The ship is well equipped to conduct a variety of rescue operations including submarine rescue, diving rescue and surface rescue. It's also capable of many routine diving operations."

As part of the drill, the Changdao will join a US Naval vessel in simulating the rescue of a damaged submarine.

Changdao's commander Du Changyu says the drill is going to be a good opportunity for the Chinese navy to glean lessons from their US counterparts.

"There will be a lot of in-depth exchanges and cooperation with the US Navy during the exercise. The officers and soldiers will be spending a lot to time together, communicating with each other. This is certainly deep cooperation we're having, and should naturally increase the transparency about the Chinese Navy."

Professor Lonny Carlile with the University of Hawaii says the joint training sessions are a good exercise in diplomacy.

"I think one way to achieve more understanding of each other, each country, is to have a very good understanding of what their militaries are like. So I think it's useful for everyone to participate in these things so they'd have a good idea of what will happen if they did go to war. Also, if they have a better understanding of what each side is thinking, so if things go well, then they keep coming to compromises, that sort of thing."

This is the second time the Chinese Navy is participating in RIMPAC after joining the exercises in 2014.

The Chinese fleet's ships also include a missile destroyer, a missile frigate, a supply ship and the hospital ship Peace Ark.

There are also three helicopters, a marine squad and a diving squad, including 1,200 officers and soldiers, on board.

A total of 26 nations are taking part in RIMPAC 2016 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California, involving a total of 45 ships, five submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 military personnel.

For CRI, I'm Qi Zhi.