From Japan-Forward, May 21:
India's strategic geography and growing naval reach, along with its influence in the Global South, give it an indispensable role in the FOIP framework.
In August 2016, the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood before the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Nairobi and spoke of "the enormous liveliness brought forth through the union of two free and open oceans and two continents."
It was the formal birth of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) concept, a framework since adopted by the United States, Australia, the European Union and dozens of other nations.
At its core, FOIP seeks to preserve a rules-based international order against the growing influence of revisionist and coercive powers.
Among the four Quad founding partners, the United States brings military pre-eminence, Japan brings institutional credibility and Australia anchors the southern flank. India's contribution to FOIP is something else entirely—and far harder to replace.
Geographic Advantage
India's coastline stretches over 7,500 kilometres facing the Indian Ocean on three sides. Its Andaman and Nicobar Islands sit at the western approaches of the Strait of Malacca, a waterway that sees more than 96,000 vessel transits annually and through which roughly one quarter of the world's seaborne trade passes.Together with the Strait of Hormuz, these two chokepoints account for over 60% of the world's oil flows. No other Quad nation occupies a comparable position near either of them.
India's Andaman and Nicobar Command, the country's first tri-service theatre command, was built precisely to operationalize this geography.
The Indian Navy maintains a permanent deployment at the Strait of Malacca's exit to monitor extra-regional naval movements. In late 2025, India began construction of a second dual-use airfield on Great Nicobar Island at Galathea Bay, closer still to the Malacca approaches.
The reason this matters so acutely is China's "Malacca Dilemma." Over 80% of China's oil imports transit this strait. That means any credible Indian naval presence near that chokepoint represents structural leverage that no other Quad partner can exercise from comparable proximity. FOIP's maritime architecture, without India holding this position, rests on a foundation with a significant gap in the middle....
....MUCH MORE
Flashing back a decade-and-a-half:
November 2010
India Orders Firms to "Scour the Earth" for Energy Supplies as President Obama Heads Over
The Chinese approach works best if you have a blue water navy.
The Indian's currently have one aircraft carrier, the Viraat. Back in 2001 the Chinese bought a Soviet carrier from Ukraine for $20 mil. and said they were going to turn it into a, aahhh, casino, yeah that's the ticket. They've since started work on two more.
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:
