The US Navy is conduction dual carrier operations and exercises in the South China Sea in a bid to support free and open Indo-Pacific region. The exercises come amid the bitter border dispute between India and China that has been going on for months in the Ladakh region.

“USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) are conducting dual carrier ops in the South China Sea to support free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Lt Cmdr Sean Brophy, Accreditation in Public Relations and Military Public Affairs Officer for Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group.

The US had earlier moved its troops from Europe to bolster support towards other nations in Asian region, including India, against the Chinese military advances.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said that the Chinese threat to India and Southeast Asian nations is one of the reasons America is reducing its troop presence in Europe and deploying them to other places.

When asked why the US had reduced the number of troops in Germany, Pompeo said that if US troops were no longer there, it was because they were being moved to other places.

He said the actions of the ruling Chinese Communist Party meant there were “threats to India, threats to Vietnam, threats to Malaysia, Indonesia and the South China Sea challenge.”

“We are going to make sure the US military is postured appropriately to meet the challenges,” he said.