The protracted border dispute between China and India in the Himalayas has created a “spillover effect” as China’s neighbours become unsettled by its tough handling of the escalating conflict between the two Asian giants, say foreign policy experts.

“South-east Asia is a natural extension of India’s security horizons in light of its growth as a regional power,” said Professor Rajesh Manohar Basrur, a South Asia specialist with Nanyang Technological University.

Prof Basrur said that while competition with China is a major driver of India’s engagement with South-east Asia, India’s commitment to the region remains limited, with measures amounting to no more than “symbolic acts such as military exercises, (to) generate a strategic environment aimed at building up political-psychological pressure on (China)”.