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With India's further increase in troops in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the Indian Navy's Indian Ocean strategy has once again attracted everyone's attention, and has also pushed the once unknown name of the Andaman Islands to the forefront.
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
For hundreds of years, this isolated archipelago has always been a mysterious area with no "sense of existence". But at the same time, it is also a strategic point for the Indian army. Why are the Andaman Islands so important to India near the Strait of Malacca, which is dotted with islands, and what is the story behind them?
(Source: Google Earth)
The Andaman Islands are located in the eastern part of Bengal, on the western exit of the Strait of Malacca, and together with the neighboring Nicobar Islands form the Andaman-Nicobar Islands, which is a central territory of India. Since the advent of human civilization, the isolated Andaman Islands have been home to the indigenous and Andaman people. From the 9th century onwards, the Jura Dynasty of India incorporated the Andaman Islands into its territory. In the 13th century, the existence of the Andaman Islands was already recorded in ancient Chinese books.
The beautiful Andaman Islands (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
But with the rise and expansion of the British Empire, India became a British colony, and the Andaman Islands became one of the British colonies in 1789. British colonists built prisons in the Andaman Islands, but they were blocked by the local population. After years of armed repression and welfare policies, the British eventually succeeded in bringing these primitive tribes under their rule.
Indigenous people of the Andaman Islands (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
But the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands refused to accept "civilization" and instead stuck to their original way of life, which remains unchanged to this day. Today, India designates large areas of the Andaman Archipelago as "protected areas" and prohibits anyone from accessing the island without permission. The local indigenous people do not welcome any outsiders, and in recent years, the incident of outsiders breaking into the forbidden area and being killed by the indigenous people still occurs from time to time.
Colonial sites in the Andaman Islands (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Although the Andaman Islands were part of the Bengal jurisdiction during the British colonial period, they were geographically closer to present-day Burma and Bangladesh, and even part of the northern and Eastern Andaman Islands was Burmese territory (Cocoa Islands). After India's independence, the British government attempted to establish an independent state of British Indians in the Andaman Islands, but this plan was eventually abandoned.
Japanese forces in the Andaman Islands surrender to Indian forces (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
What is even more "coincidental" is that after the independence of Burma, a civil war broke out, and naturally it was powerless to compete with India for the Andaman Islands, and East Pakistan was dismembered by India to become Bangladesh, completely powerless to confront India. In 1950, the Andaman Islands were handed over to India. For the nascent India, the Andaman Islands became a pie that fell from the sky.
If it were handed over to some small and weak countries, the Andaman Islands would really be just a piece of chicken ribs – if nothing else, the island's primitive tribes would be nerve-wracking enough. But for India, which wants to become a great power with a lot of sound and color, the Andaman Islands are a godsend.
The Andaman Islands are just blocked by the western exit of the Strait of Malacca and echo the Indian mainland on the other side of the Bay of Bengal. If you want to blockade the Strait of Malacca and control the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Islands have a natural geographical advantage, which is self-evident for India. Therefore, since the 1980s, the Indian military has been building military facilities in the Andaman Islands.
Indian Andaman-Nicobar Command (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
After the Kargil conflict in 1999, the Indian military further accelerated its military construction in the Andaman Islands and in 2001 established the Andaman-Nicobar Command, India's only tri-service joint command. To date, the Andaman-Nicobar Command has 5 joint air and sea bases, 1 military port and 1 military airfield located on North Andaman, South Andaman, Grand Nicobar, Carnikoba, Carmotta and West Bengal.
At present, the military facilities owned by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands can already support the operation of fighter jets and P-8I anti-submarine patrol aircraft, but they cannot yet maintain the long-term berthing of large ships. However, the Indian military is considering expanding its military facilities in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands for the deployment of amphibious landing ships and even considering the deployment of nuclear weapons in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands.
Although nominally, the Indian military claims that the main task of the Andaman-Nicobar Command is to carry out anti-piracy and anti-smuggling missions in the waters of Malacca, as well as to combat poaching in nearby protected areas. But anyone with a little common sense can see that the troops and construction invested by the Indian army in the area are obviously for another purpose. In order to justify the Indian army's increase in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands, India even claimed that China had built a secret military base in Myanmar's Cocoa Islands
Although this statement has been jointly refuted by Both China and Myanmar, India still uses this as an excuse to strengthen its military presence in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands, especially since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office, has paid more attention to military construction in this area. In 2016, India organized a large-scale amphibious combat military exercise in the Andaman Islands, code-named "Puhara", with the core content of "island seizure". In 2017, the Indian army again organized a large-scale live exercise in the Andaman Islands.
But even with good geographical advantages, the indian military strength in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands is still too weak. Due to limited conditions, the largest combat ship deployed by the Indian Navy in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands is only a Corra-class frigate of more than 1,000 tons, and the Air Force does not have fighter jets stationed in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands, only a small number of helicopters and Do-228 patrol aircraft. Although the Indian army decided to deploy Su-30 fighter jets in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands in 2013, it has only remained verbal.
Even with the most optimistic predictions, the Indian Navy will build a large joint sea-air base in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands around 2027, with domestic aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, Su-30s and Rafale fighters, can the Indian military really blockade the Strait of Malacca and cut off China's oil "lifeline" in armed conflict with China?
(Source: China Military Network)
Even if India has such a capability, has India seriously considered what means and lineups the Chinese army will use to counter India's blockade at that time, and whether India is prepared for the consequences of such an action? I believe that in the hearts of every reader, there are already their own answers.