Chinese Military Buildup
The competition continues more than 1,000 miles east of India’s southern tip at the entrance to the Malacca Strait, a chokepoint that Beijing worries America could use to block its energy supplies in a war over Taiwan.
India allowed the US access to its Andaman and Nicobar islands, which sit at the entrance to the strait, after joint exercises last year. It’s also posting troops there permanently for the first time.