Kuala Lampur, April 20 -- Stand on the bridge of a ship crossing the Strait of Malacca at night and you will see the modern world moving past you. Oil tankers carrying Middle Eastern crude glide east toward China, Japan and Korea. Container ships loaded with Asian exports head west toward the Indian Ocean and eventually the Suez Canal on their way to Europe. Somewhere between Singapore and Sumatra, nearly a third of the world's maritime trade squeezes through a channel barely wide enough in places for two ships to pass comfortably.

Today strategists in Washington talk about it constantly. Chinese analysts worry about it openly. Singapore's leaders, with characteristic calm, remind everyone that the strait must remain open, neutral and go...