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REPORT ABUSIVE REPLY
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Message Subject
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WAR with China: . NEW content added Oct 23 - "Are we closer than we think?"
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Poster Handle
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Midwest Skeptic |
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Post Content
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What Is Happening in the Indian Ocean?
"... At the heart of the geopolitical struggle in the Indian Ocean is the ability to sustain a military presence near the key choke points connecting its trade routes. Such a presence gives countries the power to protect and disrupt these valuable maritime channels—known as Sea Lines of Communications (SLOC) protection and SLOC interdiction in naval terms—during times of peace and war...
... Of the world’s seven key choke points for oil transportation, three are in the Indian Ocean....
... The first choke point is the Malacca strait between Malaysia, Singapore and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, which connects Southeast Asia and the western Pacific to the Indian Ocean.
... The second is the Strait of Hormuz, which is the only sea passage connecting the Persian Gulf to the wider Indian Ocean.
... The third is the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which flows between Eritrea and Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
... Finally, there is also the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and Mozambique, which is a key trading route for goods transiting the Cape of Good Hope to the Middle East and Asia.
If a navy has access to and influence over these choke points, it can oversee all entry and exit points into the region. Moreover, presence near key choke points helps a nation’s antisubmarine warfare and surveillance missions, which create maritime domain awareness. Surveillance and reconnaissance missions around choke points are particularly important for awareness of an adversary’s submarine movements, because detecting subsurface vessels in the wider open sea is much more difficult and expensive. A nation that boasts a strong security profile in the Indian Ocean will be an instrumental partner for the many littoral countries along its coastline, spanning Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia...
...Combined with Beijing’s larger maritime ambitions, China’s presence in the region has become a source of shared anxiety for France, India, the United States, and others...
[ link to carnegieendowment.org (secure)]
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