India’s Future Via Andaman & Nicobar Islands & Strait Of Malacca

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Choking China : Andaman & Nicobar gets $3.4B Investment

Japan’s grant of $3.42 billion (¥4.02 billion) to stabilize the electricity supply in India’s strategically located Andaman and Nicobar Islands – vital geopolitical location for both India and QUAD partners.

About Andaman & Nicobar Islands

This archipelago is composed of 265 big and small islands [203 Andaman islands + 62 Nicobar Islands]
The Andaman and Nicobar islands extend from 6° 45′ N to 13° 45′ N and from 92° 10′ E to 94° 15′ E for a distance of about 590 km
Divided into three main islands i.e. North, Middleand
The Great Andaman group of islands in the north is separated by the Ten Degree Channelfrom the Nicobar group in the south
Port Blair – Capital of Andaman Nicobar Islands

THE BARREN AND NARCONDAM ISLANDS, north of Port Blair, are volcanic islands [these are the only active volcanoes in India]
Some of the islands are fringed with coral reefs. Many of them are covered with thick forests. Most of the islands are mountainous.
Saddle peak (737 m)in North Andaman is the highest peak.

Most of the areas in the island are placed under Protected/Restricted area .
Restricted area permit under Foreigners (Restricted Areas) Order, 1963 is required by foreigner to visit this protected areas.

INDIA – JAPAN RELATIONS

Relationship between India and Japan is based on mutual understanding and mutual admiration.
when India faced a balance of payment crisis in 1991, Japan was one of the few countries that helped

The Indo-Japanese relationship is evolving in three areas – :

Indian Ocean Region (IOR)
Economic Partnership
Defence

For Japan, investments in the Indian Ocean Region mostly revolve around energy security.
Tokyo imports 90% of its fuel from the Middle East.
India too exports refined petroleum and other energy commodities to Japan.
To maintain the strength & peace & Counter China in the region Japan offered Grant for A&N islands

WHY THE GRANTS ?

STRATEGIC

The islands are strategically close to the Malacca Strait, the channel and choke point on which China depends for its energy shipments.

ECONOMIC

The islands also dominate the Bay of Bengal and the Six Degree and Ten Degree channels, which are used by over 60,000 commercial ships each year.

About Six Degree Channel

The Great Channelis located at six degrees north of equator and is popularly referred to as the ‘Six Degree Channel’. The width of the Great Channel is 163 Km (88 nautical miles) between Indira Point in Great Nicobar and Rondo Island of Indonesia’s Aceh Province.

DEFENCE

The Malacca Strait and the Six Degree Channel are two of the nine primary bottlenecks that govern access to this region. Even submarines usually surface when making this transit to avoid accidents.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands also station naval, air, and ground forces to dissuade China.

Indian Navy hosts a multinational naval exercise at Port Blair, the headquarters of the Andaman and Nicobar Command
It becomes all the more significant as China has frequently referred to Quad as an “exclusive clique” similar to an Asian NATO.
Security experts speculate that Japan’s grant to India is part of a coordinated plan to keep an increasingly assertive China in check, The Japan Times reported.

“The rim region of the Bay of Bengal is also one of the fastest-growing subregions in the Indo-Pacific,” prompting India to pay “a lot more attention,” to the maritime sphere and the islands

:- G.V.C. Naidu (professor of Indo-Pacific affairs , Jawaharlal Nehru University)
The Initiator

Japan is not just a close partner of India but also the key proponent of the “Free and Open Indo Pacific,” an antidote to China’s rise and assertiveness.

BENEFITS

1) The Japanese grant that will help India utilize power generated from renewable energy
2) Improve the power supply to India’s military capacity and surveillance operations

The project is planned to be completed by February 2024.

3) Infrastructural Development

To counter China through non-military means, Infrastructure development by QUAD could be one step in that direction

4) Resource Rich

The islets connect the Bay of Bengal with the Andaman Sea and account for 30% of India’s Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ).

5) Malabar drills

Analysts believe that once the infrastructure is built, India and other naval forces will be able to use the facilities to conduct their Malabar drills in the Indian Ocean with the four Quad nations.

6) Tourism

According to Leszek Burzynski (honorary professor of strategic and defense studies at the Australian National University), China has condemned the Malabar drills, and Beijing is “sensitive to the expansion of the Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force MSDF’s area of operations,”, especially in the South China Sea.
This is the first time India is taking foreign aid for the development of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as the development strategically will benefit all QUAD nations against dragon

Cautious Move To Deter China?

According to naval scholar Toshi Yoshihara — this collection of 244 islands — allows India to play into China’s psychology by forming an Indian version of the Western Pacific’s first-island chain.

Chinese infiltration

In the past several years, China has expanded its presence in this region. Naval ships disguised as fishing boats have been spotted.
“If an armed conflict breaks out in the South China Sea, and if the US and by default Japan get involved, the Andaman and Nicobar potentially can play a crucial role.”

:- G.V.C. Naidu (professor of Indo-Pacific affairs , Jawaharlal Nehru University)

JAPAN’S DEFENSE INTEREST

Japan’s development assistance to the islands follows the signing of “Acquisition and cross-servicing agreement” between Tokyo and New Delhi in September 2020, which some predict will allow Japanese warships access to the islands and India access to Japan’s facilities in Djibouti and elsewhere.

Mutual benefits in Countering China

“China has already reached the thrust point that leads to the Pacific i.e., the Miyako Strait.

:- Srikanth Kondapalli, (professor in Chinese Studies, Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University )

It has crossed the strait and conducted drills in the Western Pacific and also spreading tentacles in the Indian Ocean region and Bay of Bengal
In the case of a conflict with China, India could use anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) weaponry from these islands to create a maritime exclusion zone.