If a conflict were ever to break out, the US navy could attempt to strangle the Chinese economy at the Strait of Malacca and the three other less-used straits (Sunda, Lombok and Makassar) that connect the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean. China, however, is well aware of this vulnerability. The ‘Malacca dilemma’ has been a feature of Chinese strategic discussion for much of the past decade and has helped spur a surge in funding for oil and gas pipelines that could bring energy to China overland, from Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and through the remote Chinese province of Xinjiang.
