The Iranian and US blockades of the Strait of Hormuz are reviving anxiety over the fate of Asia’s most crucial strategic bottleneck.
The Strait of Malacca between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore links the Indian and Pacific Oceans through a channel just 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) wide at its tightest point, more than 10 times narrower than Hormuz. It carries roughly 40% of global trade, including the bulk of oil flows from the Middle East to Asian economic powerhouses including China, Japan and South Korea.
