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China-India relations
ChinaDiplomacy

What India’s ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ project near Malacca means for its China ties

Uncertainty over Strait of Hormuz amid US-Iran conflict has New Delhi moving on US$10 billion plan to transform Great Nicobar Island

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A passenger vessel approaches the jetty at Campbell Bay on Great Nicobar Island, India's southernmost territory, located less than 150km from the Strait of Malacca's western entrance. Photo: AFP
Nayan SethandFan Chen
The global energy crisis stemming from the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has added complexity to already competitive China-India maritime relations.

The bottleneck in the Gulf has disrupted the provision of vital supplies of oil, gas and fertilisers to Asia, underscoring the fragility of global supply chains and the significance of trade chokepoints.

Amid uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz’s reopening, India’s US$10 billion plan to transform its remote Great Nicobar Island into a major defence and logistics hub near the strategically critical Strait of Malacca has gained momentum.
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The shipping routes from the Strait of Hormuz to the Strait of Malacca are instrumental in sustaining China’s economy, with any disruption to the maritime artery possibly dealing a serious blow to the world’s second-largest economy.
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Great Nicobar, a 921 sq km (356 square mile) island wrapped in dense prehistoric rainforest, sits at the southernmost edge of India in the Andaman and Nicobar island chain – some 1,200km (746 miles) from the Indian mainland but less than 150km from the Strait of Malacca’s western entrance.

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Amid the Hormuz blockade, supporters of the Indian project, including some of the country’s military veterans, argue it would enable New Delhi to “control” or disrupt Chinese supply chains and worsen its “Malacca dilemma”.

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