NEW YORK -- The U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific international maritime exercise, or RIMPAC 2020, kicked off Monday in a scaled-back form with China conspicuously absent from the guest list.
The biennial drill -- the biggest ocean exercise in the world -- runs to the end of August in the seas near Hawaii. With 10 countries, 22 ships, one submarine and 5,300 personnel participating in offshore-only activities this time, it is greatly reduced in size from the 2018 edition, where 25 countries took part.
