U.S., Japan, South Korea, Australia and Canada Commence Joint Drill in Hawaii

It is reported that a total of five countries, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Australia and Canada, will participate in the Pacific Dragon ballistic missile defense drill for two weeks between Monday and August 14th off the coast of Hawaii. The drill will be adjusted depending on weather conditions or the schedule of the 2022 Rim of the Pacific military exercise (RIMPAC 2022).

The Pacific Dragon drill was held during the RIMPAC 2022, which was attended by 26 countries and run through August 4th. RIMPAC is taking place against a backdrop of tensions with Communist China, and is the world’s largest maritime exercise.

The Pacific Dragon drill aims to enhance the target detection capability of North Korean ballistic missiles and share target information. The drill will detect, track and intercept target missiles.

South Korean, U.S. and Japanese defense chiefs met in June and agreed to regularize and publicize trilateral missile defense exercises to deter North Korea’s ballistic missile threats.

The Pacific Dragon drill coincides with China’s August 1st Army Day. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may take this opportunity to conduct a military exercise in the South China Sea, to put pressure on the United States and Taiwan, and to interfere with the U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to visit Taiwan.It is worth noting that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has recently held five consecutive exercises. The PLA’s official Weibo account China Bugle released a short video on Saturday (July 30th) of “The Chinese Army Is Always Ready to Fight on the 95th Anniversary of the Founding of PLA”. In the video, the slogans “Having the ability of fighting and can stop wars” and “The Chinese army is always ready to fight” are put forward.