A US Navy carrier strike group, led by USS Nimitz, is expected to conduct maritime drills with Indian warships near Andaman and Nicobar Islands this week, against the backdrop of the India-China border standoff, people familiar with developments said on Monday.
The drills also come at a time when tensions have mounted over China’s activities in South China Sea, where the US Navy just conducted a major exercise.
The Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy is currently carrying out manoeuvres near Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The two navies will conduct a passage exercise near the islands to hone interoperability, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. USS Nimitz has transited the Malacca Strait and is on its way to the Persian Gulf, they said.
“A passage exercise is normally undertaken whenever an opportunity arises, in contrast to pre-planned maritime drills. While the Malabar exercise will be conducted later this year, it is always good to exercise with like-minded navies and exchange best opportunities whenever there is a chance,” said naval affairs expert Captain (retired) DK Sharma.
There was no official word from the Indian Navy on the exercise with the Nimitz carrier strike group.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are more than 1,200 km from the mainland. A significant volume of China’s oil imports passes through Malacca Strait, 350 km from these islands.
The nuclear-powered USS Nimitz, one of the largest warships on the planet, is returning from an operational deployment in South China Sea. A carrier strike group led by USS Ronald Reagan was part of the US drills in South China Sea.
The US deployment to South China Sea came after China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy conducted drills in the contested waters, provoking a sharp reaction from neighbouring countries and Washington. The US Navy has said its operations in South China Sea are designed to support a “free and open” Indo-Pacific.
The stage is also set for Australia to be part of the next Malabar naval exercise conducted by India with the US and Japan, as reported by Hindustan Times on July 17. The next edition of Malabar, already delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, is set to be held by the end of the year.
The formal invitation to Australia is expected to be extended after some time in view of delicate negotiations between India and China on disengagement and de-escalation to end their standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
China has also been wary of the Quadrilateral security dialogue or Quad that was revived in late 2017 by India, the US, Australia and Japan, and these suspicions have increased since the four countries upgraded the forum to the ministerial level last year.