India's Indo-Pacific Stakes: The Strait of Malacca, Indonesia, and Maritime Strategy

The Strait of Malacca is a narrow sea passage — approximately 890 km long, narrowing to just 65 km at its most constricted point (the Phillips Channel near Singapore) — that connects the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints: approximately 22% of global maritime trade by value passes through it, with an estimated 102,500 vessel transits in 2025 alone. For India, the strait is the primary route for trade with East and Southeast Asia, and for energy supplies from the Middle East bound for East Asian buyers that transit near Indian waters.

Sabang is a free-trade port city located on the northwestern tip of Sumatra (Weh Island), at the northern entrance of the Strait of Malacca — approximately 100 nautical miles from India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands and adjacent to India's planned Great Nicobar transshipment port project. The India-Indonesia agreement to jointly develop Sabang port gives India a strategic foothold at the approaches to the Malacca Strait.

Key Details

• Sabang's significance: it overlooks the critical "Malacca funnel" where traffic entering from the Bay of Bengal is funnelled toward the Singapore Strait or the Lombok Strait.
• The Great Nicobar Island project (approved by the Cabinet in 2021 at ₹72,000 crore) includes a transshipment port, an international airport, a township, and a military base — designed to project Indian maritime power into the eastern Indian Ocean.
• India's port diplomacy in the region includes Chabahar Port (Iran), Sittwe Port (Myanmar), and interest in ports in Sri Lanka and Maldives — all aimed at countering the "String of Pearls" strategy.
• Joint port development is distinct from leasing: it implies both sides share construction investment and operational rights, creating a long-term strategic stake for India.

India's Act East Policy (AEP) — formally articulated at the East Asia Summit in November 2014 — replaced the earlier Look East Policy (1991) and upgraded India's engagement with ASEAN and East Asia from a passive observer stance to an active strategic player. The AEP focuses on connectivity (physical, digital, people-to-people), defence partnerships, and economic integration with the Indo-Pacific. Indonesia is designated a priority partner under the AEP given its geographic centrality in the maritime Indo-Pacific.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adopted in 1982 and entered into force in 1994, is the international legal framework governing ocean use. It defines Territorial Sea (12 nautical miles), Contiguous Zone (24 nm), Exclusive Economic Zone (200 nm), and Continental Shelf rights. For straits used for international navigation (like Malacca), UNCLOS guarantees Transit Passage — a right stronger than innocent passage — which cannot be suspended by coastal states.

Key Details

• India ratified UNCLOS in 1995.
• Indonesia is an archipelagic state under UNCLOS Part IV — it can draw baselines connecting its outermost islands, creating Archipelagic Waters through which other states have Archipelagic Sea Lane Passage rights.
• The South China Sea disputes, in which Indonesia is peripherally involved (China's nine-dash line overlaps with Indonesia's North Natuna Sea EEZ), are a driver of Indonesia's interest in closer defence cooperation with India.
• Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) by major navies in the region are premised on UNCLOS rights of transit passage.