A Chinese flotilla participating in the upcoming Rim of the Pacific maritime exercises left port Wednesday and will meet up with two U.S. Navy destroyers for the sail back into Pearl Harbor later this month, the Navy said.

The Chinese missile destroyer Xi’an, missile frigate Hengshui, supply ship Gao-youhu, submarine rescue vessel Changdao and hospital ship Peace Ark are expected to rendezvous with the U.S. Navy destroyers Stockdale and William P. Lawrence in the western Pacific on Saturday and then sail into Pearl Harbor.

A second “group sail” will involve the Japanese helicopter destroyer Hyuga, Indian frigate Satpura, Indonesian frigate Diponegoro, Singaporean frigate Steadfast and Pearl Harbor- based destroyer Chung-Hoon, Defense News reported.

Xinhua, the official news agency of China, reported that at the send-off for the 1,200 officers and soldiers, deputy navy commander Wang Hai said the RIMPAC mission is important for a “new type of major-power relationship” between China and the United States.

The Chinese navy will take part in drills including gunfire, damage control and rescue, anti-piracy, search and rescue, and submarine rescue, Xinhua said.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2000 prohibits military contact with China if that contact creates a national security risk due to exposure to operations including advanced combined-arms and joint combat drills. The Pentagon maintains the RIMPAC drills fall outside the restrictions of this act.

RIMPAC, the world’s largest international maritime exercise, is scheduled for June 30 through Aug. 4 and will be mostly held in and around Hawaii but also in Southern California.

Cmdr. Ryan Perry, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s 3rd Fleet, which plans RIMPAC, said a first-of-its-kind submarine rescue exercise will involve China, the United States and other countries.

China and other Asia-Pacific nations are building or buying increasing numbers of submarines, which have an unparalleled stealth advantage in the protection of coastlines. China also is deploying nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.

Perry said the in-port first phase of the submarine rescue drill will include the United States, Australia, Canada, China, South Korea, Chile, France and Japan. Later, at sea, a target will be sent to the ocean floor to represent a stricken sub, and a recovery vehicle will be sent after it, he said.

“We’re exercising our capability to rescue a downed submarine,” Perry said. “Should the crisis occur, can we operate together to perform a rescue in the case of an emergency?”

The Chinese ship Changdao will be providing a recovery capability, Perry said. The U.S. Navy ship USNS Safeguard, a dive and salvage ship, also will take part, he said.