Strategic Importance Of The Indian Ocean

CHAPTER II

IOR - STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE AND INDIA’S INTERESTS

“History has shown that whatever power controls the Indian Ocean has, in the first instance, India’s sea-borne trade at her mercy and, in the second, India’s very independence itself.” - Jawaharlal Nehru

Geo Strategic Importance of IOR

17. The Indian Ocean amounts to 20 percent of the total oceanic water. It extends over 10,000 kilometers from the southern tip of Africa to the western coast of Australia. It joins the Atlantic Ocean, in the southwest to the Pacific Ocean in the east. The key choke points are:-

(a) Bab el Mandeb

(b) Lombok Strait

(c) Palk Strait

(d) Malacca Strait

(e) Strait of Hormuz.

18. The key seas in the Indian Ocean are Gulf of Aden, Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Mannar, Mozambique Channel, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, Red Sea and other water bodies. Indian Ocean connects the Mediterranean Sea through Gulf of Aden, Bab el Mandeb, Red Sea and Suez Canal and to the Pacific Ocean via Malacca Strait. Straddling 28 million sq km, the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) consists of third of the world's population. A substantial share of international trade passes through the SLOCs of the IOR. Indian Ocean is the main trade route linking Europe and America with

Robert Kaplan accounts that the Indian Ocean rim land from the Middle East to the Pacific accounts for 50 percent of the container traffic and 70 percent of the traffic of petroleum products for the entire world. He says that India is as poised to become the world’s 3rd largest oil importer, after China and the US, with over 90 percent of its oil transiting the Indian Ocean. China is in the same company because over 85 percent of its imported oil already passes through the Indian Ocean. Besides, the Ocean is rich source of petroleum products, marine products and minerals. Nearly 40 percent production of the total offshore petroleum products comes from the Indian Ocean