The research, under two projects, will be funded by the foreign office and comes at a time India and China are increasingly rubbing up against each other in their shared periphery - South Asia and Southeast Asia. Implicit in those narratives that India hopes will come out of the twin projects is a distinction between India and China, which has at different times in history ruled over diverse parts of Southeast Asia, senior officials told The Telegraph. China and India have indirectly competed for influence in Southeast Asia through previous centuries. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei are all locked in maritime disputes with China. Many of these countries are also trying to reduce their economic dependence on China, their biggest trade partner.

Source: The Telegraph August 07, 2017 21:33 UTC