Hawaii is famous for its sun and surf. But it is not for the sunshine that the naval vessels of 22 nations are heading there.

They are taking part in the world's largest multinational maritime exercise, the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise starting June 29.

The number of participants this year is a big increase on the seven - Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States - that took part in the first RIMPAC exercise in 1971.

Such an expansion is a response to the US' "pivot" toward the Asia-Pacific region.

To achieve this, the US is ramping up its military presence in the region. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced in Singapore at the weekend that around 60 percent of the US fleet would be assigned to the region by 2020.

In April the first deployment of an estimated 2,500 US marines arrived in north Australia. The build-up is expected to include B-52 bombers, FA-18s, C-17 transport aircraft and nuclear powered submarines.

The increased naval presence of the US in the Pacific will enable it to boost the number and size of the military exercises in the region in the next few years and to plan for more port visits over a wider area, including the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, the use of Australia's Cocos Islands as a future US drone base is under discussion. The atoll is being eyed as a base to monitor south Asia and the South China Sea. A drone base on the islands is attractive to the US, as they are more than 2,400 kilometers closer to the South China Sea than the US naval base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The US clings to its 20th century notions of being the world's "sole superpower" and seeks to expand its influence and control over the shipping lanes and resources in the Asia-Pacific. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also said in the Wall Street Journal that security in the Pacific means a world in which US economic and military power is second to none.

The US' increased naval presence in the Pacific will upset the region's stability.

In the name of promoting freedom of navigation in the region, the US is attempting to hold sway over it.

(China Daily 06/06/2012 page8)