[hedgetrimmer]

Around 1,500 United States and Singapore navy personnel began exercises in the South China Sea on Tuesday to test maritime warfare skills, the defence ministries of both nations said in a joint statement.

Singapore has recently warned of the need to tighten security along the busy Malacca Strait as it fears terrorists may seek to hijack a tanker and turn it into a floating bomb.

About a third of the world's trade and 80 percent of Japan's crude oil is transported through the Strait, a narrow shipping lane that runs between Malaysia and Indonesia to Singapore.

** It appears the US is concerned about the security of the Strait of Malacca

[hedgetrimmer]

PING

[milestogo]

It appears the US is concerned about the security of the Strait of Malacca

BANGALORE - The proposed India-United States joint patrolling of the sea lanes along the Straits of Malacca represents not only a new high in cooperation between the two countries, but also signals India's emergence as a key player in the region.

The navies of India and the United States will discuss means to counter terrorist threats from sea and ways to ensure safety of sea-lanes in the region during their executive steering group meeting that began in Chennai on Tuesday.

[RonF]

Are these straits international waters?

[1rudeboy]

Malaysia, he said, understood that many countries had an economic interest in the straits as it was an international waterway, "but it does not convert the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the area."

Cognitive dissonance alert.

[ASA Vet]

There was talk a few years ago of building a 50 Km ship canal accross southern Thailand.

[RightWhale]

Inviting the United States to patrol the Malacca Straits could see a transfer of the superpower's own problems to the region

Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. Wasn't this the responsibility of the British until the Japanese scuttled their fleet at no charge? France was in there, too. The EU should bear some of the responsibility. If Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore want the US to patrol for pirates, should they pay on a flat rate monthly basis or on a per head basis?

[Quix]

DUM TE DUM DUM
DUM TE DUM DUM
DUM TE DUM DUM DUM!

The thicken plots.

LOL,

just checking my childhood globe to look at the area, I noticed that it has INDOCHINA instead of Viet Name etc.

And W and E Pakistan!

A while ago! Globe is ~50 years old.