Asia's Arc of Advantage - icrier

While the theoretical debate on the Indo-Pacific and its meaning has just begun, it is not an
abstract notion for Southeast Asia. For the region is at the very intersection of the Indian and
Pacific Oceans and links the subcontinent and East Asia. As we reconceptualise the mental
maps of Asia and its waters amidst the region’s integration with itself, “Southeast Asia becomes
not an appendage to either East or South Asia but a hinge linking both together.” 10 Many of
the new geopolitical trends we discussed above find their fullest expression in the littorals of
the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea and demand greater attention
to the waters that connect the two oceans. 11 China’s vital SLOCS pass through the Malacca
Straits and other passages in archipelagic Southeast Asia. India’s own east bound trade travels
in the other direction through the Malacca Straits. To address the challenges from the so-called
‘Malacca Dilemma’, Beijing has begun building transport corridors and oil pipelines from the
Indian Ocean to Western and South-western China that avoid the passage through Malacca
Straits. One of the most intensive Chinese efforts in this direction is in Myanmar, where China
is building a dual pipeline system from the Southwestern province of Yunnan and Myanmar’s
Rakhine coast in the Bay of Bengal. China is developing port and hydrocarbon infrastructure
on Kyaukphyu Island where the pipeline system connects with the Bay of Bengal. Meanwhile
India is strengthening its joint military command at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, whose
southern tip is at the mouth of the Malacca Straits.
If Delhi worries about the security implications
of China’s strategic investments in Myanmar
and the Bay of Bengal, Beijing is concerned
about the Indian ability to interdict its SLOCs
in the Andaman Sea and the growing naval
collaboration between Delhi and Washington.
If the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea
have acquired a new geopolitical salience in the
Eastern Indian Ocean, the deepening conflict
in the South China Sea between China and its
neighbours has pushed the littoral to the centre
of regional power play. Much like India, which is
concerned about the rising Chinese naval profile
in the Indian Ocean, Beijing is warily watching
India’s growing diplomatic and strategic interest
in the South China Sea. A deepening security
dilemma between China and India in the Bay
of Bengal, Andaman Sea and the South China
Sea has begun to intersect with the increasingly
uncertain dynamic between China and the
Map 4: Indian Military Presence in Andaman &
Nicobar Islands
Source: The Telegraph, "Hawk eye on Malacca strait,"
by Sujan Dutta, July 10 , 2012*
United States in the Western Pacific. The intensifying territorial disputes between China and
Japan in the East China Sea naturally spill over into the South China Sea. The current churn
10 Bronson Percival, “U.S.-India: Parallel Links along China’s Southern Periphery”, Asia Pacific Bulletin, No. 114
(Honolulu: East-West Center, June 1, 2011), p. 2.
11 Shaun Lin and Carl Grundy-Warr, “ASEAN and interconnecting regional spheres: lessons for the Indian
Ocean Region”, Journal of the Indian Ocean Region, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 54-70.
* available at http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120710/jsp/frontpage/story_15711340.jsp
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