Britain’s last military outpost in the Far East may be at risk amid reports India has offered to send its Gurkhas to protect the Sultanate of Brunei, a role currently performed by the British Army.
The tiny oil-rich sultanate of Brunei was a British protectorate for almost a century, and has continued to pay to host a battalion of British Army Gurkhas since independence in 1984.
But in recent years Brunei has found itself caught up in a struggle between its larger regional neighbours including India and China over the South China Sea.
On an official visit ending on Wednesday, Indian vice-president Mohammad Hamid Ansari signed a bilateral defence agreement involving joint military exercises and training, in part designed to shore up Brunei against Chinese claims on its disputed maritime territory.
Sources present at the meeting told The Indian Express that India had also offered to provide troops including retired soldiers from its own Gurkha Regiment, potentially supplanting the current role of the British Forces Brunei.
