India, May 4 -- With the Great Nicobar project moving through key clearances and drawing renewed scrutiny, India's long-standing dependence on foreign trans-shipment hubs has finally forced a strategic rethink. For decades, a country of India's trade volume has routed nearly three-fourths of its cargo through ports such as Colombo, Singapore and Port Klang, absorbing higher costs and strategic vulnerability in the process. Correcting that imbalance is no longer optional. It is overdue.

The proposed development of Great Nicobar-a trans-shipment port, an international airport and supporting infrastructure-is, at one level, a response to that reality. At another, it is a statement of intent. In an Indo-Pacific where infrastructure increasin...