The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word MALAYSIA
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
M
A
L
A
Y
S
I
A
More clues leading to the result MALAYSIA
- Country 11 replacing what’s at heart of TheSound of Music problem
- Set sail, May, to a tropical country
- I’m always missing wife, travelling round a country
- Put in sprawling Masai country
- Graduate bets capital from east Asian land
- Minute place within continent, or part of it
- Area set in Siam, possibly, or another Eastern country
- Primarily Muslim place within its continent
- Place in Chennai's best to retire in country
- It’s close to Vietnam, place in eastern region
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "tropical country" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tropical country = malaysia.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.