The Chinese missile destroyer Haikou (R), missile frigate Yueyang and supply ship Qiandaohu (C) are seen during the supply at sea in Pacific Ocean, during the the Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) multinational naval exercises on June 13, 2014

A party crasher from China’s navy is enjoying an intelligence buffet at the world’s largest maritime gathering – and the feasting will make it hard for Beijing to condemn similar foreign activities in international waters close to China.

U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Darryn James said Saturday that a Chinese surveillance ship was operating near Hawaii “outside U.S. territorial seas.” That location puts the ship on the edges of the U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific, or Rimpac, maritime exercises in which China is participating for the first time. One U.S. display map of the Rimpac operating zone, described to us by a civilian observer of the exercises, shows the…