Thailand is planning to construct a 100-kilometer-long land passageway to link the Indian and Pacific Oceans in order to reduce the shipping traffic on the Strait of Malacca. The congested narrow sea route that lies between Malaysia and Singapore is one of the world’s busiest and most important sea lanes. Strategically, the major transshipment sites for goods connect the entire Asia-Pacific region with India and the Middle East. The strait is a strategic waterway via which most of the Chinese imports pass, also the shortest and quickest route for cargo transport between Europe and East Asia via the Suez Canal.
“The Strait has become quite congested,” Thailand’s Transport Minister Saksiam Chidchob said in a live streamed televised interview. “Using an alternative route through Thailand would cut shipping time by more than two days, which is very valuable for businesses,” he added.
Looking to construct two deep seaports on either side of southern coasts, Thailand also plans to design a 100 km “land bridge” instead of dredging the canal through the isthmus, the minister stressed. That would slash an estimated 1,200 kilometers, approximately 2 days, in the transportation of a quarter of the world’s traded goods. A 75 million baht budget has been approved to construct seaports, and an additional 90 million baht for highways and rails to link it.
India’s strategic point
China has the vulnerability in seaborne energy imports in the strait of Malacca and Lombok and Makassar straits in Southeast Asia as its cargos can be interdicted by the hostile naval forces in its sea lanes of communication (SLOCs). Disruption to China’s free flow of energy resources could hamper economic growth that also poses a grave threat to China’s oil supply security. Approximately 60 percent of China’s crude oil imports pass through the start of Melacca that us a point of China’s strategic vulnerability according to reports.
China has also attempted to construct the so-called Kra Canal, across the Thai isthmus for an alternative route to its energy imports from the Middle East and Africa. China’s “Malacca Dilemma” revolves around the fear of a conflict with India, that can block the strategic route hindering its ability to declare war. Therefore, China has opted for the “String of Pearls” in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) and has created the complex network of Chinese military and commercial facilities in its sea lanes of communication (SLOCs).
