Playing down its unsuccessful bid to establish diplomatic ties with Bhutan, China on Monday said it is glad to see New Delhi and Thimphu develop their relations further during the just-concluded visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
China plans to build a 540-kilometre strategic high-speed rail link between Tibet and Nepal passing through a tunnel under Mount Everest, a move that could raise alarm in India about the Communist giant's growing influence in its neighbourhood.
The prompt approval to set up a radar station on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands signalled the Modi government's intent to deal with China on its own terms.
Special Envoy of the Chinese President and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conveyed his government's keenness to engage with the new Indian dispensation to strengthen cooperation in key areas.
China said Islamabad is at the frontline of combating terrorism.
This is her first visit to Beijing after she took over the office last year.
'The muscularity of the last three years didn't bring any dividends and if anything, Chinese attitudes only hardened,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Shed suspicion and manage differences to improve Sino-Indian ties, says Chinese Foreign Minister.
'India's preference today seems to be to exploit the deepening chill in relations with China to breathe new life into its meandering partnership with the US,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In remarks titled 'Implement Consensus and Handle Differences Properly to Bring China-India Relations Back on the Right Track' posted on the Chinese embassy website, Sun spoke of disruptions in the bilateral relationship and outlined five steps to clarify 'some fundamental points'.
'If a 'two-front war' develops, Iron Brother may only turn out to be a drag on the PLA, since Pakistan is in no position to wage a war with India,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Top Indian and Chinese officials on Tuesday finalised President Xi Jinping's maiden visit to India, including the programme and key issues to be discussed, amid indications that he may begin his tour in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat on September 16.
The visit, Kim's third since March, is taking place amid sharp escalation rhetoric between Beijing and Washington over tariffs almost spiralling into a trade war.
The Indian defence ministry said its border security personnel, as per standard protocol, immediately alerted their Chinese counterparts to locate the UAV and they later reverted with its location.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi made Bhutan the destination of his first foreign visit. Now two weeks later, the foreign minister of the Himalayan kingdom, Rinzin Dorje, is in Beijing discussing the China-Bhutan border issue. The move poses a serious challenge to New Delhi because any negotiation on China-Bhutan border dispute is bound to affect India's border negotiations with China. Bhutan and China share 470 kilometres of border, which is also close to India's 'chicken's neck' -- the narrow Siliguri corridor which links the northeast.
This is a high-stakes strategic conflict between a power which wants to preserve the status quo in its favour and one which wants to usurp that throne. The rest is all theatre, says Harsh V Pant.
Xi-Kim meeting took place amid concern in Beijing that the North Korean leader is getting too close to US sidelining China pointing to its declining importance in the Korean Peninsula peace process.
'While many Chinese policy makers dismiss the political, economic and technological component of US-India relations, they express caution on the defence-related ties which also happens to be a major driver in US-India relations,' explains China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
China on Sunday said the border dispute with India has been "contained" and the Indian elephant and Chinese dragon should "do more" to strengthen the bilateral cooperation to facilitate its settlement.
Continuing his fast-paced diplomacy, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to China's Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday. During the phone call, Li conveyed his government's desire to establish a robust partnership with the new government in India.
'The US appears to think that Pakistan is highly vulnerable today due to its economic crisis and one more turn of the screw may bring about desired results,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
52 world leaders, including Narendra Modi, will attend this week's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. Obama will meet separately only with the Chinese president.
Xi has already been elected as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China at its once-in-five-year congress in October last year.
India and China on Monday ended their standoff in Dokalam by withdrawing their troops from the area, just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China to attend the BRICS summit next week.
Flexing its muscles over Taiwan, China on Monday sailed its aircraft carrier close to the estranged island amid tensions with the US following President-elect Donald Trump's telephone call with the Taiwanese president.
Chinese Foreign Ministry said international community should respect sovereignty and independence of the Maldives.
'This novel format of diplomacy -- the informal summit -- will not only facilitate bilateral communication and reduce miscalculations at the very top level of the two governments, but possibly open the space for China and India to speak in one voice on various issues of mutual concern,' note Feng Renjie and Ding Kun Lei
Dr Manmohan Singh would be faced with very few choices in Beijing given the Chinese conceived notions of the world today and India's low place in their calculus, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
Sushma in her address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers meeting said that terrorism is an enemy of basic human rights.
In a stern message to its neighbours, China today said it is determined to defend "every inch" of its territory and there was "no room for compromise" with Japan over territorial or historical disputes.
'The scheduling of Imran Khan's visit to Beijing and its focus on the J&K situation underscores that Beijing shares the Pakistani concern that tensions with India are only going to escalate further in the period ahead,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The Indian version is that the two top diplomats merely exchanged pleasantries, while the Pakistani side characterised the encounter as an 'informal dialogue'.' 'The truth, as always in such piquant situations, is somewhere in between.' 'It stands to reason that ice has been broken,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'We should not treat each other as rivals. We should make cooperation the mainstream, China said.
Khan's visit evoked considerable interest in Beijing as it comes in the wake of his past criticism of the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects and remarks by his ministers to cut down some of the projects over debt concern.
This is the second time that China has defended the decision to put a technical hold on India's bid to ban Azhar, the mastermind of the January 2 Pathankot terrorist attack.
The meeting, which comes after the Doklam standoff, is aimed at a working a new paradigm for the bilateral relations for the next 15 years.
'No matter what Modi may boast about 'new India', the geopolitical reality is that India's stature diminishes when it needs a small country like Saudi Arabia under an autocratic ruler to help out with what is arguably one of the most critical templates of its diplomacy,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'A good opportunity has thus been provided for both countries to back away from the brink without loss of dignity.' 'There is every reason why they should strain every nerve, and grab every chance, shedding all thought of belligerence and showing who's the boss, to establish, maintain and preserve all it takes to lift themselves by their bootstraps,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
India's decision to skip the meeting came after a year of bilateral discord over China's stubborn opposition to India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and a UN ban against Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar.
He called for delineation of the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) which China has refused earlier.
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