India offers to share counter-terrorism expertise with ASEAN countries

India has taken an important step towards expanding the scope of security cooperation with Southeast Asia. India has offered to share its counter-terrorism combat expertise with ASEAN countries. According to a report by the South China Morning Post, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made this proposal on Thursday at the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus, namely ADMM-Plus, held in Cebu.

During this meeting, the Indian Defence Minister cited 'Operation Sindoor' as an example of India's counter-terrorism capabilities and offered to share India's knowledge and experience in this region with other countries. However, defence analysts believe that this experience of India will only partially meet the needs of the ASEAN countries.

According to analysts, there is a difference in threat perception and domestic priorities between India and ASEAN countries, which can make adopting a 'one size fits all' approach difficult. Although the security needs of the ASEAN region may be different from those of India, this offer certainly opens up new directions for increasing cooperation in the defence sector between the two sides.