“The southern maritime rim of Eurasia, stretching from the eastern Mediterranean through Southeast Asia, is more than a mere linkage. It is the maritime hub of Eurasia. It is where four strategic chokepoints enable and affect the global economy: the Suez Canal, the Bab-al-Mandab (the Red Sea’s southern gateway) and the Strait of Malacca. Energy resources and other hydrocarbon-based products from the Middle East, as current events attest, are vital commodities. Critical minerals mined in Africa and shipped to markets via the maritime mega-region’s sea lanes will become increasingly strategically consequential. Undersea cables and seabed minerals on the floor of the Indian Ocean are and will become more strategically significant.”
“This southern rim of Eurasia, its maritime hub, should not be seen in its piecemeal parts of West Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. It is a maritime mega-region. This vast maritime region is on the cusp of emerging as a massive blue economy.”
“Over a decade ago, in institutionalizing its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) strategy, China recognized this maritime linkage and its potential. Despite wishful thinking about its demise, the BRI continues to advance, with less emphasis on brick-and-mortar projects and greater focus on the digital and energy sectors. Ports and shipping remain a focus, and Chinese shipbuilding, both commercial and naval, surpasses all others. Chinese oceanographic research ships routinely survey the Indian Ocean. Oceanographic research is certainly happening, but the voyages also map underwater cable networks and survey potential seabed mining opportunities.”
“Central to the mega-region is India- a hinge, if you will, and the logical anchor of the mega-region’s blue economy. Links to Israel, Gulf Arab nations, and Southeast Asia, as well as the QUAD, the strategic partnership with the U.S., Japan, and Australia, and numerous partnerships with Indian Ocean organizations, make it so. However, the potential of all those relationships has yet to be fully realized.”
https://www.hoover.org/research/eurasias-southern-rim-blue-economy-mega-region