WASHINGTON ¨C Weeks after India and China engaged in their deadliest border clash in decades, the sight of an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier entering the Bay of Bengal drew attention across the region.
The carrier, the USS Nimitz, and its strike group deployed to the area in mid-July to conduct an exercise with the Indian Navy in pursuit of a ¡°free and open Indo-Pacific,¡± according to a statement by the U.S. Navy¡¯s 7th Fleet, whose headquarters are in Japan. But as tensions soar between India and China, two nuclear-armed neighbors, the joint operation took on a greater significance.
¡°It was symbolic,¡± said Tanvi Madan, the director of the India Project at the Brookings Institution. ¡°It¡¯s also signaling to China and others that the U.S. is standing by India.¡±
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