Tension grows between China and India as Asia slips into cold war - Times Online

Tension grows between China and India as Asia slips into cold war - Times Online

Jeremy Page in Delhi

You have to go to a tropical paradise to find the latest front in the brewing cold war between China and India.

On the southernmost tip of the Maldives lies the island of Gan, a tiny patch of coconut palms and powdery white beaches. It was here that Britain set up a secret naval base in 1941, building airstrips and vast fuel tanks to support its fleet in the Indian Ocean during the Second World War.