From Australia's Lowy Institute Interpreter blog, July 4:
How a crucial regional waterway may be affected in the event of conflict.
The strategic relevance of maritime choke points has remained a constant throughout military history. Their control has often defined the outcomes of major conflicts, shaped geopolitical balances, and influenced global economic flows.
Exemplifying the enduring value of choke points, this year marks the 110th anniversary of the beginning of the Gallipoli campaign conducted from February 1915 to January 1916 during the First World War. A joint Anglo-French-Australia-New Zealand force attempted to seize maritime control of the Dardanelles Strait, with amphibious landings to neutralise Ottoman coastal batteries and capture the commanding coastal areas along the Gallipoli Peninsula. This would have enabled Allied naval forces to access the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus Strait, and subsequently reach the Black Sea.
The failure of this operation, marked by immense casualties, highlights not only the challenges of amphibious and littoral warfare but also the significance of such maritime corridors in determining the strategic fortunes of nations – a sobering reminder of the historical consequences when belligerents seek to control key maritime chokepoints, which includes both maritime and land features.
Today, the strategic calculus surrounding the importance of controlling maritime choke points remains unchanged. In Southeast Asia, the Strait of Malacca represents one of the world’s most critical, congested, and busiest sea lines of communication (SLOCs). The implications of a future conflict on the control of this chokepoint, particularly involving China and Taiwan, and potentially the United States, could be profound.
Maritime choke points are narrow sea lanes that funnel international shipping through constrained passages, often bordered by the sovereign territories of multiple states. These passages, while enabling global trade, are also potential flashpoints in times of tension or conflict. Due to their geographic and economic value, they are vulnerable to interdiction, blockade, or militarisation. In the Southeast Asian context, the Strait of Malacca may be considered as the region’s most significant choke point due to its proximity to major regional and extra-regional economies, and a major sea route for the transportation of energy and goods.
The Strait of Malacca, which spans approximately 800 kilometres and ranges in width from 2.7 kilometres to 250 kilometres, serves as the principal maritime corridor linking the Indian Ocean to the Pacific via the South China Sea. Bordered by Peninsular Malaysia to the east and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the west, it has historically served as a geopolitical magnet, drawing the ambitions of colonial powers such as Portugal, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. It is estimated that over 90,000 merchant vessels pass through the strait annually, transporting nearly 25% of global trade. Its role as a conduit for oil, liquefied natural gas, and manufactured goods underpins the economies of not just Southeast Asia but also East Asia and beyond....
....MUCH MORE
If interested see also:
- Will China Bypass Singapore And The Strait of Malacca With A Canal Across Thailand Into The Indian Ocean?
- Will Singapore Be Bypassed? "Blocking Thailand’s solution to China’s ‘Malacca Dilemma’"
- RAND: "The Gulf of Thailand May Be the Next U.S.-China Flashpoint"
- Chinese EV battery makers are building huge factories in Morocco to cash in on U.S. electric vehicle subsidies" (and China is now camped at most of the world's chokepoints)
In our November 2010 post "India Orders Firms to "Scour the Earth" for Energy Supplies as President Obama Heads Over" I mentioned:
I have a hunch that American schoolkids today will be hearing a lot about the Indian Ocean before they graduate and might even be able to find it on a map.*...
...*I mean come on, just look at the land masses that border it:
Indian Ocean Geopolitics: China Goes to the Maldives
"Is China Moving to Control the Indian Ocean?"
