Watch: Why PM Modi’s Indonesia visit matters for India | Explained
A bilateral visit to Jakarta — India's first such engagement with Indonesia since 2018 — underscored the strategic importance of the relationship to India's Indo-Pacific posture.
Approximately 60% of India's seaborne trade passes through the Strait of Malacca, the narrow waterway that separates the Malay Peninsula from the island of Sumatra, Indonesia; securing access to this chokepoint is a core Indian maritime interest.
Key outcomes included defence agreements (BrahMos and Astra missiles), joint development of Sabang port — located near the northern entrance of the Strait of Malacca, 100 miles from India's Great Nicobar Island project — and cooperation on critical minerals.
The visit is part of a broader six-nation Indo-Pacific tour, with Indonesia chosen as the opening leg, signalling its primacy in India's maritime strategic calculus.
India and Indonesia reaffirmed their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2018) and Shared Vision of Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
The Strait of Malacca: A Strategic Maritime Chokepoint
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.
Key Details
- Flanked by Malaysia and Singapore on the north and Indonesia (Sumatra) on the south; all three states exercise sovereignty over segments of the strait.
- Under UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), the Strait of Malacca is subject to the right of Transit Passage (Article 38) for international shipping — straits used for international navigation have a higher-order right of passage than the right of innocent passage in territorial waters.
- "Malacca Dilemma": A strategic concern — particularly articulated by China — that dependence on this single chokepoint creates vulnerability to naval blockade in conflict scenarios.
- The strait handles approximately two-thirds of China's maritime trade volume and 40% of Japan's maritime trade, making it a fulcrum of Indo-Pacific geopolitics.
- India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands lie just north of the strait's western entrance — giving India geographic leverage over vessels approaching from the Indian Ocean side.
Indonesia controls the southern shore of the Strait of Malacca (the Sumatra coastline) and the approaches to the strait through the Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok Straits. Deepening India's defence and port partnership with Indonesia directly enhances India's maritime situational awareness and access at this critical chokepoint.
Sabang Port and India's Strategic Port Diplomacy
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.
Joint development of Sabang port creates a synergistic pairing with the Great Nicobar project: together, they give India presence on both sides of the Bay of Bengal's southeastern exit point, enhancing India's capacity to monitor and, in a contingency, influence the flow of traffic through the Strait of Malacca.
India's Act East Policy and the Indo-Pacific Framework
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.
Key Details
- The Indo-Pacific concept: India's free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific framework covers the area from the eastern shores of Africa to the western shores of the Americas, with the Indian Ocean as its centre of gravity.
- QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue): India, USA, Australia, Japan — a key minilateral framework in the Indo-Pacific; Indonesia is not a member but is a significant partner.
- ASEAN Centrality: India's Indo-Pacific approach explicitly supports ASEAN's central role — Indonesia, as ASEAN's largest member by population (~280 million) and GDP, has an outsized influence on ASEAN cohesion.
- India-ASEAN trade: approximately $130+ billion annually; Indonesia alone accounts for a significant share as India's largest ASEAN trading partner.
- Indonesia is an archipelago of over 17,000 islands straddling the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean — controlling key straits including Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok.
The visit — specifically its sequencing as the first stop on a six-nation Indo-Pacific tour — signals that India views Indonesia as the anchor of its maritime strategy in Southeast Asia. The deals on defence, ports, and minerals together constitute a comprehensive strategic partnership that goes beyond diplomacy into material security cooperation.
UNCLOS and Maritime Jurisdiction Frameworks
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.
India and Indonesia share a rules-based maritime order perspective rooted in UNCLOS, making them natural partners against unilateral claims in the Indo-Pacific. Their 2018 Shared Vision of Maritime Cooperation explicitly references UNCLOS as the foundation of the bilateral maritime framework.
- Strait of Malacca: ~890 km long; narrows to ~65 km (Phillips Channel near Singapore)
- Global maritime trade through Malacca: ~22% by value; ~102,500 vessel transits in 2025
- India's seaborne trade through Malacca: approximately 60% (per bilateral engagement documents)
- Sabang port location: northwestern tip of Sumatra; ~100 nautical miles from Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Great Nicobar Island project approved: 2021; value ~₹72,000 crore
- India-Indonesia CSP established: May 2018 (upgraded from Strategic Partnership of 2005)
- Indonesia: ~280 million population; ASEAN's largest economy
- Indonesia archipelago: 17,000+ islands; controls Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok Straits
- UNCLOS adopted: 1982; entered into force: 1994; India ratified: 1995
- Act East Policy launched: East Asia Summit, November 2014
- India-ASEAN trade: $130+ billion annually