A contingent of five Chinese warships is set to sail alongside U.S. and allied vessels when the world’s biggest maritime naval exercises kick off Thursday — despite rising tensions and occasional standoffs between Chinese and U.S. forces in the increasingly sharp struggle for dominance in the South China Sea.

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“The fact that the U.S. and China do not see eye to eye on the issue of the South China Sea does not hinder military engagements, exchanges and dialogues,” Yun Sun, a China analyst at the Washington-based Stimson Center, told The Japan Times newspaper this week. “In fact, it makes them even more important than before.”

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