Which region and country does the Straits of Malacca connect?

Malacca Strait (English: Malacca Strait; ; Malay: Serat Malacca is a strait between Malay Peninsula and Sumatra Island (east longitude 10 1.20 minutes, north latitude 2.30 minutes). The waterway connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean) covers an area of 65,000 square kilometers (25,000 square miles), with Sumatra Island in Indonesia in the west and West Malaysia and southern Thailand in the east. The length of the strait is 800 kilometers (500 miles). It looks like a funnel. Its south mouth is only 65 kilometers (40 miles) wide, and gradually widens northward, reaching 249 kilometers (155 miles) at the north mouth between Shahuang in Indonesia and Crater Canyon in Thailand. The Straits of Malacca, named after Malacca, a trading port on the Malayan coast, was an important port in the 16 and 17 centuries. The Strait of Malacca is southeast-northwest. Its northwest end is connected with the Andaman Sea in the Indian Ocean, and its southeast end is connected with the South China Sea. The total length of the Strait is about l080, the widest in the northwest is 370km, the narrowest in the southeast is only 37km, and the water depth is 25 to150m. It is an international waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and it is also the crossroads of Asia and Oceania. Malacca Strait is named after Malacca, the ancient city of Malaysia. The Strait is now controlled by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The strait is located in the equatorial windless zone, and there are more windless days all year round. The bottom of the strait is flat, mostly sediment, and the water flow is gentle. At the eastern end of the Straits of Malacca, there is Singapore, a big port in the world, with busy shipping. About 654.38 million ships (mostly oil tankers) pass through the strait every year. Most of the Japanese oil purchased from the Middle East is transported to China through here. [Editor's paragraph] The history of the Straits is about the 4th century AD, when Arabs opened a route from the Indian Ocean to China via the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. They transported China's silk, porcelain and spices from Maluku Islands to European countries such as Rome. During the 7th to 65438+5th centuries, China, Indian and Arab countries all passed through the Straits of Malacca. /kloc-At the beginning of the 6th century, Portuguese navigators opened the Atlantic-Indian Ocean route. 1869, the Suez Canal was completed, which greatly shortened the route from Europe to the East. The number of navigable ships in the Straits of Malacca has increased dramatically. In recent years, more than 654.38 million ships pass through the strait every year, making it one of the busiest straits in the world. The coastal port of Singapore is a world-famous port with the fourth throughput in the world. The coastline of the port is three or four kilometers long and can accommodate more than 30 giant ships at the same time. With a giant dock of 400,000 tons, it can repair the world's largest supertanker. [Edit this paragraph] Geographical location of natural environment The Strait of Malacca lies between Malay Peninsula and Sumatra Island. Named after Malacca, the ancient city on the south bank of Malay Peninsula. The strait is bordered by the Andaman Sea in the west and the South China Sea in the east, with a northwest-southeast trend, about 1080 km long, and exports to the Singapore Strait 1 185 km. It is 370 kilometers wide in the northwest and 37 kilometers wide in the southeast. It covers an area of 64,000 square kilometers. The seabed is relatively flat and muddy. The water depth decreases from north to south and from east to west, generally 25 ~ 1 15m. There are many small islands in the southeast fjord, and some islands have rocks and sand ridges on their edges, which hinder navigation. The main deep-water channel is located on the east side of Xia Hai, with a width of 2.7 ~ 3.6 kilometers, and can be used for navigation of ships with a draft of 20 meters. The west side of the Strait is low and flat, with many swamps, muddy islands and mangrove beaches, making it difficult for big ships to dock. The Strait of Malacca is located in the windless area of the equator, with high temperature and rainy all year round and little wind. The annual average temperature is above 25℃, the annual average precipitation is 2000 ~ 2500mm, and it reaches 3000mm or more in Malacca Port and other places. The wind is weak most of the year, and there may be violent storms in April-May,10-165438+10, but they usually last only a few minutes and do not hinder the navigation of ships. The world calls the Straits of Malacca a calm waterway. Malacca Strait is an important waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Navigation has a history of more than 2000 years and is an important link in global routes. On average, more than 200 ships pass by every day, and more than 80,000 ships pass by every year, which is one of the busiest sea areas in the world after the Dover Strait-English Channel. However, the width of the strait is narrow, including beaches and sandbars, and there are 37 places shallower than 23 meters. In addition, the past shipwrecks have also hindered the passage of giant oil tankers, so there are frequent incidents of grounding of giant ships, and oil tankers with a load of more than 200,000 tons have to bypass the Lombok Strait in Indonesia and sail for more than 2,000 kilometers. At the same time, the sediment on both sides of the strait continues to deposit, and the coastline extends forward about 60 ~ 500 meters every year. At this deposition rate, the Malacca Strait will disappear within 1000 years. Therefore, it is an arduous task to strengthen waterway dredging and comprehensive management. The water depth in the southern part of Malacca Strait rarely exceeds 37 meters (1.20 feet), but it is generally around 27 meters (90 feet). The deeper you go to the northwest seabed, the water depth reaches about 200 meters (650 feet) at the junction with Andaman Basin. There are many small islands in the southern mouth of the Straits, some of which have rocks and sand ridges on their edges, thus hindering the navigation in the southern mouth of the Straits of Malacca. It has been determined that sand ridges are deposited by substances entrained in Sumatra river water. Geologically speaking, Malacca Strait is a part of Sunda continental shelf. At the beginning of the 4th century (about 654.38+600,000 years ago), it was a continuous lowland. It seems that it has not been affected by crustal movement since the late third century (about 7 million years ago). Due to the melting of land ice in high latitudes in the post-glacial period, the current contour was soaked by rising seawater. Coastal swamps can often be seen on both sides of the Straits of Malacca, and there are large areas of low-lying swamp forests on the east coast of Sumatra Island. There is siltation on both sides of the Taiwan Province Strait, and the diffusion degree of siltation near the estuary is different. On the coast of Malaya, the spread of siltation is about 9 meters (30 feet) per year, while on the east coast of Sumatra, it is about 200 meters (650 feet). The climate in Malacca Strait is hot and humid, with northeast monsoon prevailing in winter and southwest monsoon prevailing in summer. The average annual rainfall is between 65,438+0,9465,438+0mm (76 inches) and 2,565mm (65,438+005,438+0 inches), and the ocean current flows to the northwest all the year round, with the sea surface temperature in the east of the Strait of 30.5438+. The sea surface temperature in the west is 4℉ lower than that in the east. As several large rivers flow into the Straits immediately after land, the water salinity in the Straits of Malacca is low. [Edit this paragraph] Strategic location The Straits of Malacca is a very important international waterway both economically and militarily. The importance can be compared with Suez Canal or Panama Canal. Malacca Strait is an important waterway between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, connecting three populous countries in the world: China, India and Indonesia. In addition, it is also an important channel for oil to flow from West Asia to East Asia. Japan, an economic power, often calls the Straits of Malacca its "lifeline". About 50,000 ships pass through the Straits of Malacca every year. With the rise of China's economy, it is estimated that this number will double in 20 years. It accounts for one-fifth to one-quarter of the world's maritime trade. A quarter of the world's oil tankers pass through the Straits of Malacca. For example, in 2003, it was estimated that 65,438+0,065,438+0,000,000 barrels of oil (about 65,438+0,700,000 m3) passed through the Straits of Malacca every day. As a waterway connecting the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, Malacca Strait is the shortest sea route between India and China, so it is also one of the busiest waterways in the world. In his early years, he helped a large number of Asian immigrants determine the direction of crossing the Malay archipelago. The Straits of Malacca were successively controlled by Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch and British. In the 20th century, the oil wells on the east coast of Sumatra Island, not far from the Sunda continental shelf, made some oil companies start to explore oil in the Straits of Malacca. Besides other ships, Malacca Strait can also be used for large oil tankers to sail between Middle East oil fields and seaports in Japan and other East Asian countries. Japan calls it "the lifeline of the sea" [edit this paragraph] and faces a difficult problem 1. For example, the Phillips Channel, a waterway near Singapore, is 805 kilometers long, but its narrowest point is only 37 kilometers wide. Bring inconvenience to maritime traffic. 2. Pirates are rampant because the Straits of Malacca are busy waterways and there are many narrow places in the Straits. /kloc-In the 9th century, Malacca Strait was a strait where pirates were rampant. Pirates robbed merchant ships. Pirates did not disappear in 2 1 century, but became more and more rampant. This is due to the increase of cargo ships in the Straits of Malacca, the limited naval strength of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, and the fact that the Straits of Malacca are at the junction of the three countries, and there are some problems in international cooperation. Modern piracy incidents in Malacca Strait increased from 25 in 1994 to 220 in 2000. In 2003, there were 150 incidents, accounting for one third of the global piracy incidents. In order to combat piracy, the navies of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have increased the number of patrols since July 2004 and will patrol the Straits of Malacca all the year round. The threat of terrorism is because the narrowest part of Malacca Strait is only 37 kilometers, and its depth is only 25 meters. Many experts worry that if terrorists sink some ships in these areas. Will cause huge losses to the world economy. 4. Smoke caused by Indonesia Due to frequent forest fires in Indonesia, some Indonesians have a tradition of burning forests for fire farming. As a result, smoke often appears in the Straits of Malacca. It has affected the safety of navigation. Sometimes the visibility is only 200 meters. 5. When the water depth is shallow, grounding accidents will occur. The seabed of Malacca Strait is flat, mostly silt, with gentle water flow and easy sediment deposition, so there are a large number of shoals and sandbars underwater. Huge cruise ship grounding accidents happen from time to time. It is predicted that due to the rapid sedimentation on both sides of the strait, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra Island may meet in a thousand years, and the Straits of Malacca will disappear. [Edit this paragraph] The attitude of all countries is 1. Countries along the Straits of Malacca, namely Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Among them, India and Malaysia have always opposed the intervention of external forces in the Straits of Malacca, believing that this would be a violation of their sovereignty. All along, the three littoral countries have followed three principles when dealing with the affairs of the Straits of Malacca: the littoral countries have sovereignty over the affiliated waters and the obligation to maintain security, and recognize the interests of the relevant big countries in the region. All actions must respect national sovereignty and conform to international law. The three coastal countries signed the Convention on the Straits of Malacca on19711,opposing the "internationalization" of the Straits and declaring that the three countries are in charge of the affairs of the Straits. Experts believe that the three coastal countries will selectively accept the help of big countries, but only provide low-level and indirect help such as equipment, backup and training, which can only indirectly help strengthen the patrol capability of the Straits, thus effectively controlling and reducing the occurrence of pirates and terrorist attacks, instead of letting big countries directly intervene in the affairs of the Straits of Malacca. 2. The people of China, China and China transport 85% of their oil by water. It needs to pass through the Straits of Malacca. On April 20, 2006, Malaysian Minister of Communications Chen said in the Star that frequent piracy in the Straits of Malacca has increased people's concerns about the danger of terrorist attacks in the Straits. During Chen's recent visit to Beijing, the security of Malacca Strait was one of the main topics discussed by both sides. China offered to help strengthen security in the Straits of Malacca. The assistance will take the form of exchanging information and sending experts to train Malaysian maritime personnel. The Malaysian government has agreed to the memorandum of understanding on maritime cooperation between the two countries proposed by China. At the end of April of the same year, the Malaysian government will send a group of experts to China to discuss the details of the memorandum. 3. Because of the importance of the Straits of Malacca, the United States has been exaggerating the serious threat of piracy and terrorism in the Straits of Malacca in recent years to intervene in the Straits of Malacca. In June 2005, when US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld attended the 4th Asian Security Conference in Singapore, he repeatedly mentioned that the naval forces of coastal countries could not cope with piracy and terrorist attacks, hoping that the US military could be stationed in the region. He also said that the United States is willing to form a joint patrol with coastal countries to ensure the security of the Malacca Strait, but Malaysia and Indonesia refused. Some experts believe that the United States intervened in the Straits of Malacca to curb the rise of China.