KATHMANDU, March 12 -- Experts from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka on Tuesday highlighted contemporary security and economic challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

Speaking at a two-day "COSATT Regional Conference on Security and Economic Challenges in the Indo-Pacific" in the capital, the eminent scholars were of the view that the South Asian countries should cautiously handle their ties with the United States and China in the changed context.

Major General AKM Abdur Rahman, the director general at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, said that the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China may destabilize peace and stability in smaller countries like Bangladesh and Nepal.

"With the re...