At the height of the 1971 India–Pakistan war, as Indian forces moved decisively in East Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh became inevitable, US President Richard Nixon privately assured China that Washington would support Beijing if it chose to attack India.
The disclosure emerges from seven pages of Richard Nixon’s sworn testimony that remained sealed for nearly five decades as part of the Watergate grand jury record. The testimony offers the clearest evidence yet that the US was prepared to widen the South Asian war into a larger conflict involving China.
