From looks to action

For more than six decades, Indo-Thai bilateral cooperation concentrated on education, culture, and technical exchanges. After India's Look East and Thailand's Look West policies coincided in 1990's, the cooperation between the two countries gained a new momentum in the last few years. The strategic transformation of Indo-Pacific region and the political changes within Myanmar now provide a new background for Thailand and India to step up their relations in every respect, including defence cooperation. The paper argues that with the increasing strategic significance of each party, Thailand-India defence relations remain a weak link which does not correspond to the new strategic context, and which requires attention and improvement.