One of the important interests of China in Myanmar is the
pipeline from the western coast of Myanmar to Yunan.
China begins
lying a gigantic 1,100 km long gas and oil pipeline to
Myanmar in September; the official media said a day
before the visit of Burmese leaders beginning Wednesday. It will
cut transportation costs by shortening the journey for crude from
the Middle East and Africa.
It will
transfer 20 million tonnes of crude oil to China from the Middle
East and Africa annually. The natural gas pipeline
will be extended by an additional 1,700 kms to transport it from
Yunnan to Guizhou and Guangxi Zhuang provinces to move 12 billion
cubic meters of gas.
The Xinhua news agency said the oil pipeline can reduce the
transport route by 1,200 km as compared to ocean shipping besides
reducing China's
reliance on the risky Straits of Malacca for oil
import.
http://www.siasat.com/english/content/china
The Strait of Malacca,
linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans, is the shortest sea route
between the Persian Gulf and China. It is the key chokepoint in
Asia. More than
80% of all China’s oil imports are shipped by tankers passing the
Malacca Strait. The narrowest point is the Phillips Channel in the
Singapore Strait, only 1.5 miles wide at its
narrowest. Daily more than 12 million barrels in
oil supertankers pass through this narrow passage, most en route to
the world’s fastest-growing energy market, China or to Japan.
If the strait were closed, nearly half of the world's
tanker fleet would be required to sail further. Closure would
immediately raise freight rates worldwide. More than 50,000 vessels
per year transit the Strait of Malacca. The region from Maynmar to
Banda Aceh in Indonesia is fast becoming one of the world’s most
strategic chokepoints. Who controls those waters
controls China’s energy supplies.
http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Geopolitics
The upcoming exercise in the Bay of Bengal is the
13th in the
ongoing US-India Malabar series of naval exercises.
It has been "extended" to include other countries, Indian officials
have said. This is the first time a Malabar naval exercise is being
conducted on India's eastern seaboard.
"The purpose of the Bay of Bengal exercise is to develop naval
interoperability among the participating fleets," said Lawrence
Prabhakar, associate professor at the Madras Christian College and
visiting fellow at the Singapore-based S Rajaratnam School of
International Studies. The exercises will include
offensive and defensive missions, surface and submarine warfare,
maritime interdiction, and operations to counter piracy and
terrorist acts at sea.
The exercise will be held between Visakhapatnam, headquarters of
India's Eastern Naval Command, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- not far from the strategic
Strait of Malacca. Drawing attention to the
significance of the site of the exercise, Prabhakar told Asia Times
Online that the Bay of Bengal lies at the confluence of seas with
the Indian Ocean on one side and Southeast Asian waters on the
other. "It is at the tapering end of waters through which oil
traffic coming out of the Strait of Hormuz pass before entering the
Strait of Malacca."
The Strait of Malacca connects the Indian Ocean to the South China
Sea. This narrow waterway is crucial to maritime trade - it is one
of the busiest ocean highways in the world. Its traffic density is
projected to increase from 94,000 ships in 2004 to 141,000 in 2020.
A quarter of the world's oil shipments pass through this waterway
every day. Half of China's imported oil and 95% of the oil shipped
to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan pass through the strait.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IH14Df01.html
China Nervous About Growing
India-Japan-US-Australia Alliance
http://www.india-defence.com/reports-3373
