Where China Meets India: Burma And The New Crossroads of Asia, by Thant Myint-U

Faber and Faber, £20. Kindle £9.36

OVER the last decade western economic leaders have spent much time looking over their shoulders at China and India, the two emerging superpowers that seem set to rival the US and Japan for the world’s biggest economies.

Much has been written about the effect this power grab will have on the west, but less on the impact on other Asian nations.

Of particular interest is the fate of the country in the middle of these two — the already troubled land of Burma (Myanmar) — which could bridge the gap and open up new trade routes between them.

Thant Myint-U, a westerner of Burmese extraction, is in a perfect position to comment on the past, present and future of a country whose fate lies in the palms of its boisterous neighbours, and he does so in this fascinating book with skill and rare insight into the landscape of the 21st century.