Chinese naval ships may fire their guns for the first time inside United States territory, although it won't be a military confrontation, but part of friendly multinational exercises.

The Chinese PLA navy has dispatched its missile destroyer Haikou and three other  ships to Hawaii, to participate in the annual multinational naval exercise dubbed RIMPAC (for Rim of the Pacific). This is the first time Chinese forces are taking part in the exercise which started in 1971. A total of 23 countries have confirmed participation. 

Like Us on Facebook

The exercises come in the midst of tensions that recently arose in the South China Sea, as countries claiming different parts of the area strive to strengthen defense alliances with the United States. 

China's defense ministry announced last week that the Haikou is joined by three other naval vessels - the missile frigate Yueyang, supply ship Qiandaohu, and the hospital ship Peace Ark - in the exercise that begins Thursday. Two helicopters, a naval commando unit, and a diving squad complete the contingent. 

In a send-off ceremony June 16 at Sanya, deputy commander of the navy Xu Hongmeng said the deployment becomes part of the efforts to build a new model of relationships between China and the United States, the host country, and their military forces. 

After a stopover in Guam along with other forces coming from the Western Pacific region, the Chinese forces sailed to Hawaii to participate in at least seven different phases of the exercise, including sea security operations, naval artillery trials, and combined medical exchanges. The medical exchanges usually are targeted to serve civilian populations near the exercise area. 

Chinese analysts say the Chinese participation will be quite unprecedented, as first-time participants previously were limited to observing the conduct of the exercises and do not actually take part in joint war games.  

Australia, Japan and Singapore also have contingents now in Hawaii for RIMPAC 2014. From the western Pacific area, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darusallam have considerable forces taking part, while Thailand and the Philippines are sending composite personnel for the military staff exchanges that occur on the sidelines.

TagsRIMPAC 2014, PLA Navy, Chinese naval forces, weestern Pacific, Guam