New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) India to build a strategic outpost in the Indo-Pacific, expanding its defence focus towards some of the busiest shipping routes in the world in Southeast Asia, a report said.
India is pushing forward with a $9 billion infrastructure project on Great Nicobar Island, which is located near one of the world’s critical shipping arteries away from the Indian mainland.
“It leverages Great Nicobar’s strategic location to strengthen India’s national security, maritime and defence presence in the Indo-Pacific while simultaneously embedding strong environmental safeguards and tribal welfare mechanisms,” the Indian government said in a press statement on May 1.
The Great Nicobar island is located about 150 km from the western entrance of the Strait of Malacca, a narrow stretch of water passing between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
This Strait is jointly managed by these three countries, and it is the shortest route between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, which also carries more than a quarter of global sea trade.
“The project is attracting attention as disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, following the US-Iran-Israel conflict, bring focus to other vulnerable maritime chokepoints,” the report noted.
As part of this project, an international container trans-shipment terminal will be established, and a dual-use civil and military airport will be built along with a power plant and township in the Great Nicobar Island.
“Analysts say expanding existing airstrips on the island will facilitate operations of fighter jets and surveillance aircraft, while building new jetties and logistics hubs will boost naval operations,” the report said.
According to retired Brigadier Arun Sahgal, who directs the Forum for Strategic Initiatives in New Delhi, the current crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, which has virtually paralysed the sea traffic since the Iran conflict started, has underlined the need to secure trade routes and strengthen India’s defence posture.
“It enhances India’s ability in the maritime space, whether it is for surveillance, monitoring of shipping traffic, or potential naval operations. The Great Nicobar Island has been talked of as a permanent forward base for military power projection. So essentially it strengthens India’s presence in the Indo-Pacific,” according to Harsh Pant, Vice-President at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.
–IANS
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