Amid Chinese forays into Indian Ocean, Rajnath visits Andaman

Subject: Geography

Context:

Defence minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to the strategic military command at the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago beginning Thursday assumes a greater significance amid increasing Chinese forays into the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

Strategic significance of Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago:

The military command at the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago helps India keep a close watch on major choke points or the sea lines of communication (SLOC) in the Bay of Bengal — the Malacca Strait, Sunda Strait and the Ombai-Wetar Straits — from where most of the world’s shipping trade passes through.
Established in 2001, the 21-year-old military command is an Integrated Theatre Command.
- Combining the resources of all three services ( the Army, Navy, and Air Force) under a single commander to secure a particular geographic area is known as integrated theatre commands.
ANC Joint Operations Centre (JOC), also referred to as the nerve centre for integrated planning for surveillance, conduct of operations and logistic support.
Indira Point at Campbell Bay — the southernmost tip of the Great Nicobar Islands — which is separated from Indonesia by the 163-km wide Six Degree channel through which all shipping traffic from the Malacca strait to the West passes.
- It is estimated that this includes the majority of Chinese shipping, making it a crucial strategic point for India.
The Campbell Bay airfield helps India in carrying out frequent surveillance operations across the Indian Ocean.
It is also slated to become a major trans-shipment hub for India and neighbouring countries.

Major Sea Lanes of Communications (SLOCs)

Malacca strait:

Physical Geography:
- Connects the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean).
- Runs between the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the west and peninsular (West) Malaysia and extreme southern Thailand to the east.
Strategic Importance:
- Shortest sea route between the Middle East and East Asia, helping to reduce the time and cost of transportation among Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
- Through this corridor, approximately 60% of the world’s maritime trade transits, and is the main source of oil supply for two of the main Asian consumers: the People’s Republic of China and Japan.
- The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) was created in 2001 to safeguard India’s strategic interests in Southeast Asia and the Strait of Malacca by increasing rapid deployment of military assets in the islands.

Sunda Strait:

It links the Java Sea (Pacific Ocean) with the Indian Ocean (south).
Sunda Strait, Indonesian Selat Sunda, is a channel, 16–70 miles (26–110 km) wide, between the islands of Java (east) and Sumatra.
The Sunda Strait is an important passage connecting the Indian Ocean with eastern Asia.
The strait stretches in a roughly northeast/southwest orientation, with a minimum width of 24 km (15 mi) at its northeastern end between Cape Tua on Sumatra and Cape Pujat on Java.
It is very deep at its western end, but as it narrows to the east it becomes much shallower, with a depth of only 20 m (65 feet) in parts of the eastern end.
It is notoriously difficult to navigate because of this shallowness, very strong tidal currents, sandbanks, and man-made obstructions such as oil platforms off the Java coast.
The strait’s narrowness, shallowness, and lack of accurate charting make it unsuitable for many modern, large ships, most of which use the Strait of Malacca instead.

Ombai-Wetar Straits

Ombai Strait is an international strait in Southeast Asia.
It separates the Alor Archipelago from the islands of Wetar, Atauro, and Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands.
The strait is also the western portion of a pair of international straits, the other one being Wetar Strait; the two straits combine to link the Pacific Ocean with the Indian Ocean.
East Timor is bounded by the Timor Sea to the southeast, the Wetar Strait to the north, the Ombai Strait to the northwest, and western Timor (part of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara) to the southwest.