The United States says a major military exercise under way in the Pacific is not designed to counter or threaten China, but to defend Taiwan, the democratic island that Beijing considers a breakaway province.

China has said publicly that it wants to develop the capability to take Taiwan, which it considers part of its territory, by force by 2027. US President Joe Biden has vowed to intervene militarily to protect the self-ruled island if it is attacked.

The Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Samuel Paparo, said the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military operation in Hawaii, which involves New Zealand, focused on the skills and technologies that would be "most salient for potential conflict in the years ahead".

The military exercise comes as Pacific Islands Forum leaders meet in Fiji this week to address climate change, conflict, the Covid-19 recovery and the growing influence of China in the region. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta are both at the Suva summit.

The United States has pledged to deepen its ties in the face of accelerating Chinese interest in the region, with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday announcing new funding and diplomacy commitments in the region.

Many democratic countries were alarmed when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi embarked on 10-nation tour of the Pacific in May, with trade and security on his agenda.

Wang was unsuccessful in securing security pacts with nine of the Pacific governments, but managed to seal a deal with the Solomon Islands. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has defended his country’s right to choose its allies.

The controversial deal allows Sogavare to call on China to send police, military and other law enforcement personnel to the Pacific nation to maintain social order and protect people’s lives and property.

Sogavare, who is attending the Leaders Forum, said his government had no intention of allowing China to set up a permanent military presence in the Solomons.

The RIMPAC exercise in Hawaii involves 26 nations, including New Zealand, and runs until August 4. The Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Aotearoa, which was commissioned in 2020, is being used to refuel ships at sea during the operation.

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New Zealand Navy dive and hydrography teams, an NZ Army Joint Fires Team and the Royal New Zealand Air Force, Army and Navy personnel are also in Hawaii.

The US military’s support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in April has also raised questions from political analysts about the lengths to which Washington might go to help Taiwan if China invaded.

Taiwan has existed separately from mainland China since the civil war of 1949, and has never been governed by the Chinese Communist Party. Instead, it is a vibrant democracy and technological powerhouse, aligned with the US and other democracies.

But Chinese leader Xi Jinping has vowed to take control of the island and has sharply stepped up military activity around it in recent years.

In 2018, China was axed from RIMPAC. Paparo insisted the multinational exercise was not aimed specifically at countering China or any other country.

The military exercise has attracted controversy. A group of peace activists and academics sent an open letter to Ardern, calling for New Zealand to withdraw from RIMPAC. The letter said the exercise was primarily intended to cement “US military domination of the Pacific”.

Emalani Case, a Pacific Studies lecturer at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington,urged New Zealand not to participate. The exercise polluted the environment, threatened wildlife and disregarded the rights of the indigenous population, Case wrote for The Spinoff last month.

Commander Dave Barr, of HMNZS Aotearoa, said the exercise would help improve international response in the event of natural disasters.

Asked whether the Taiwan 2027 threat had shaped the military exercise, Paparo said RIMPAC was designed to bolster the international coalition’s proficiency in areas suitable to the Taiwanese scenario. This included the amphibious operations and long-range strikes, he said.

China has handed the US a blueprint for its co-existence in Asia Pacific, said Wang after meeting his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, in Bali last weekend.

Wang said China and the US should consider the “establishment of rules for positive interactions in the region and jointly uphold open regionalism”.

Paparo said many of the US Pacific allies and partners were gravitating towards distributed “lethality types of concepts”. He was also asked about the message RIMPAC is meant to send to China and North Korea.

“On China, it is quite concerning. The combat power that China is developing over the last few decades includes power-projection capability for power projection beyond its borders and beyond its shores.

“RIMPAC does demonstrate the solidarity of all its participants to the international rules-based order and the principles of sovereignty, of freedom of the seas, of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and against what otherwise would be expansionist activities.”

On Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry said the Taiwan Strait wasn’t international waters, with Wang challenging Washington’s view of international law.

Wang said the Communist Party considered Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and the "core of China's interests".

“If China and the US can have sound interactions in Asia Pacific, it could help release positive energy and also meet the expectations of all regional countries,” Wang said, adding that achieving all this hinged on the US rising above its “hegemonic mentality”.

This year’s RIMPAC operation is the first full-sized exercise in four years, after the 2020 event was scaled down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Paparo said. It involves 38 ships, four submarines, more than 170 aircraft, nine land forces, about 30 unmanned systems in multiple domains, and more than 25,000 personnel.

Other nations involved in RIMPAC include Australia, Tonga, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, France, India, Chile, Ecuador, Indonesia, Denmark, Israel, Colombia, Japan, Brunei, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Singapore, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand.