The U.S. military's Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2024 is taking place near Hawaii, and one of its subjects is sinking a retired 40,000-ton amphibious assault ship. During the exercise, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Brown said he was "fully confident" that the U.S. would defeat China if a war broke out over the Taiwan region. In response, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said on Thursday that the Chinese People's Liberation Army has the capability to safeguard national sovereignty.