Indonesia Gives India Strategic, Military Access to Sabang Seaport

File photo of Indonesian Prime Minister Joko Widodo with PM Narendra Modi.

(Photo courtesy: PTI )

Indonesia has reportedly agreed to give India economic and military access to an island called Sabang, an Indonesian minister said on Thursday, 17 May. Strategically located at the northern tip of Sumatra and close to the Malacca Strait, the island is just over 700 km from Andaman & Nicobar islands.

The port is 40-metre deep, which means that it is good even for submarines, Luhut Pandjaitan reportedly said, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for maritime affairs and a former military officer.

Sabang, also known as Weh Island is less than 500 km from the entrance of the Malacca Strait, from where almost 40% of India’s trade passes. One of the critical channels along global sea routes, at least 15 million bpd of oil flows through the Malacca Strait from West Asia and West Africa.

According to Hindustan Times, the two countries have been in talks over developing Sabang since 2014-15, but the plan was not put into action because of concerns over the economic viability of the port, which “has a deep draft but rudimentary facilities”.

But concerns over the assertiveness of China in the Indo-Pacific region led both governments to again take up the plan in an effort to counter and balance China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative.

“We do not want to be controlled by OBOR. We would like it to link to our maritime policy, of a global maritime fulcrum,” The Times of India reported Pandjaitan as saying.

Speaking at the India-Indonesia maritime cooperation at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi, Pandjaitan said that apart from investing in the development of the port and economic zone of Sabang, India would also be building a hospital on the island. He added that the coast guards of the two countries could also work together in time, reported the newspaper.

“India-Indonesia relations are important for the balance of power in Asia,”, said Pandjaitan at the event. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to travel to Indonesia for a bilateral summit with Indonesian Prime Minister Joko Widodo on 31 May. The visit is reportedly expected to focus and defence and space as areas of cooperation.

The Sabang arrangement, which will seal a new strategic partnership in the Indian Ocean, shows a major shift in Indonesia’s attitude towards China and India.

(With inputs from Times of India and Hindustan Times.)

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