India backs coordinated patrolling near Strait of Malacca

India backs coordinated maritime patrolling near Malacca Strait amid vast surveillance needs

New Delhi, November 12

Speaking on the Malacca Strait Protocol during a special press briefing, the MEA Secretary noted that while India lies outside the narrow waterway itself, collaborative security frameworks are essential to effectively monitor the expansive maritime domain.

"On the Malacca Strait Protocol, the Malacca Strait is distributed between the territorial waters of certain ASEAN member states. We are outside the Malacca Strait. We certainly look at a coordinated sort of patrolling because that always helps in surveilling a maritime domain which is so huge and requires collaborations of this nature to surveil successfully," Tandon said.

The remarks come ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Manila for the 49th ASEAN Summit, the 23rd ASEAN-India Summit, and the 21st East Asia Summit, where maritime security and regional connectivity under New Delhi's Act East Policy remain central pillars of engagement.

Earlier in July, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Southeast Asian leaders, cautioning that permitting illegal maritime blockades in West Asia risks establishing a precedent that could spread to vital Indo-Pacific chokepoints.

Speaking to foreign ministers during an ASEAN-related gathering in Manila, Rubio directly blamed Tehran for escalating Middle Eastern instability, labelling Iran the root cause of ongoing threats to global energy and trade routes.

Rubio stated that Washington remains in active coordination with Saudi Arabia regarding security challenges posed by Iran's proxy, the Houthis, to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a critical maritime corridor linking the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea.

Defending US actions in West Asia, Rubio warned of the global repercussions should illegal maritime blockades go unchecked.

"If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation-state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll and if you don't pay them, blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous precedent which will repeat itself in other parts of the world, including in this region," Rubio said.

The reference to "this region" pointed to East and Southeast Asia, a geographical zone encompassing critical maritime chokepoints, including the Malacca Strait and the Taiwan Strait, where any freedom-of-navigation disruptions could trigger severe global economic fallout.

Connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Strait of Malacca is one of the world's most vital maritime chokepoints, carrying nearly a third of global trade and over 55 per cent of India's seaborne commerce. Located at the western entrance of the waterway, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands sit roughly 600 kilometres from the strait, giving New Delhi both geographic proximity and a direct stake in its stability.

According to the International Maritime Organisation, the Strait narrows to a width of about 10 miles at the point where it meets the Singapore Strait, creating a natural bottleneck with the potential for collisions and groundings. Closure or blockage of the Strait would have a large impact on global supply chains, East Asian energy supplies, and Southeast Asian regional trade.

Established in 2007, the Cooperative Mechanism on Safety of Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore brings together the three littoral states, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, alongside user states and other stakeholders.

Aligned with Article 43 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the framework is designed to foster collaboration, streamline information sharing, and coordinate joint efforts to safeguard maritime navigation and protect the marine environment, according to the IMO.

— ANI