US supersonic bombers to make surprise appearance in drill near disputed China-India border

Washington sends B-1B Lancers to highlight partnership with New Delhi and push it to adopt aggressive stance towards China, analyst says
However, the South Asian country might opt to find a balance, rather than stoke rivalry with Beijing, says Fudan University professor

US-China relations

Zhao Ziwen

Published: 9:00am, 21 Apr 2023

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A pair of US B-1B supersonic heavy bombers will make a surprise appearance at Exercise Cope India – a joint drill held by US and Indian forces not far from India’s contested border with China.

The bombers, which were seen parked in Bangalore in southern India, will join the drill being held less than 700km (435 miles) from the Chinese border, according to media reports.

The planes will join the air combat phase of the exercise from April 13 to 24 at India’s Kalaikunda Air Force Station. The base is located in the eastern state of West Bengal, which is bordered by Bangladesh and Bhutan.

It will be the first time for the B-1B Lancers to take part in an exercise in India.

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Observers said the bombers underscored Washington’s desire to push India to take a more aggressive stance towards China, but the South Asian giant was likely to maintain its balancing act with Beijing.

“The B-1B is a strategic bomber, so even though it has a relatively low attendance rate [in drills] due to high maintenance, it represents a more powerful strategic deep-strike capability and the ability to strike outside the defence zone,” Song Zhongping, a former PLA instructor, said.

“The aim of the US in sending this strategic bomber was to highlight its growing partnership with India and to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the strategic arena.”

According to Song, the intentions of the US were “very obvious”: to provoke the relationship between China and India, and to encourage India to adopt an offensive strategy against China.

“What China needs to worry about most is how much of the military cooperation between India and the US will become constant and long-lasting,” Song said.

Washington played a supporting role in India’s border tensions with China. During the deadly border conflicts at Ladakh in 2020, the US military shared information with Indian forces about Chinese military activities in the mountainous region, according to a memoir by then-US defence chief Mark Esper published last year.

Washington also give Indian troops cold-weather gear during the stand-off, according to the memoir titled A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defence During Extraordinary Times.

The US military also reportedly shared information with Indian troops again last year and helped New Delhi “ward off” a potential movement by the People’s Liberation Army.

Japan, another important player in the US-China rivalry, also joined the military exercise as an observer – typically a sign that a country will take part in the drill in the future.

India and Japan are members of “the Quad”, a US-led security bloc aimed at what the Biden administration has called “maintaining peace and stability” in the Indo-Pacific region. China has criticised it as a “small clique” that is “bent on provoking confrontation”.

However, analysts said India might opt to find a balance, rather than stoke its rivalry with China.

“Both China and India are on the rise, and both countries have great power ambitions, and this sentiment is driving both countries in a relatively tough and uncompromising direction,” said Zhang Jiadong, director of the Institute of South Asia Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

“But the main goal of both countries remains economic development, not geopolitical conflict, so it is unlikely that India will extend the old problem of border issues to the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.”

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India is not an official US ally, and it is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS, two important global organisations led by China.

The country has also taken an ambiguous position in the Ukraine crisis.

“India’s style of diplomacy is to deal with as many other countries as possible. The country’s great power ambitions also make it want to have more equal cooperation with the United States rather than picking sides in Asia,” Zhang said.

Additional reporting by Jun Mai