Trade is key in Asean-India ties

THOSE in South-East Asia who are in the habit of peering at crystal balls may ponder whether the Indian army’s recent action in Bhutan – when it went to the aid of the Royal Bhutanese Army to block Chinese soldiers from building a service road in territory claimed by Thimphu – is worth extrapolating in a future context involving the region. India’s southernmost point is in the Nicobar islands of the Andaman Sea, so close to Indonesia’s Sumatra island that India is virtually a South-East Asian state as well.

What’s more, India has latterly embarked upon a policy of beefing up its strategic presence in the Andamans, and in a first for itself, indicated it is open to allowing a foreign presence on the islands by discussing a small power project with Japan, which had control of the area during World War II.