By appearing to privilege ideological affinity over strategic balance, India risks eroding the trust painstakingly built across West Asia. Once the perception takes hold that India's friendship is conditional and transactional, rebuilding credibility will be difficult, warns Amberish K Diwanji.
'Nehru was an idealist, he was certainly a visionary in one way, but Mao Zedong was not. Mao Zedong was a very down-to-earth strategist. He wanted to take Tibet, to take the plateau, to take the rivers, to take the minerals.'
'It is too early to conclude that there will be a bloodbath, that there will be no jobs, and that there will be civil unrest.' 'Let's calm down.' 'AI is a tool, it is not a weapon, it is not a virus.'
India emerged from the war militarily bruised and strategically altered. The United States, under the guise of friendship, had succeeded in achieving what open alignment never could: The psychological and political repositioning of India within the Cold War order, points out Dr Kumar.
As India and China continue to face off across the Himalayas six decades later, the echoes of that earlier conflict remain unmistakable. The core of China's sensitivity lies not in maps or mountain passes, but in its perception of sovereignty over Tibet, points out Dr Kumar.
The Chinese see no need to fight directly. They have an able and willing proxy in Pakistan, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Times have changed, situations have changed, but the basic nature of superpower geo-politics remains the same and so also India's diplomacy -- call it non-alignment, strategic autonomy or neutrality; it all depends on the time scale, notes Rup Narayan Das.
The China threat continues to resonate in the strategic partnership between India and the USA, points out Rup Narayan Das.
'China will do everything to hamper our ability to be a competitor.' 'China wants every country in the region to be subservient and we are the biggest stumbling block.'
'In Eastern Ladakh the Chinese attempted salami slicing.' 'Our response has been superb. Our military has responded magnificently.'
Kissinger asks Zhou Enlai' 'What do you think is the impact of the French Revolution?' Zhou, after a pregnant silence so beloved of Statesmen says, 'It is too early to tell'. This comment about the Revolution that changed history has been a subject of analysis for decades.
Former Foreign Secretary AP Venkateswaran assesses Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and the secret of his overwhelming popularity
Will the present Government in Delhi follow the same ostrich policy as Nehru's and pretend that there is no problem between friends? Or will they have the courage to put all ticklish issues on the table during Hu Jintao's visit?
Claude Arpi looks at the issues that challenge Sino-Indian relations.
'Unquestionably, the spirit behind the Panchsheel agreement and the 'Hindi Chini bhai bhai' slogan were thrown overboard by the Chinese, and a trust deficit was injected between the two nations.' A revealing excerpt from General J J Singh's The McMahon Line: A Century Of Discord.
The Indian Army has been slow to react. Indian troops have deployed in the vicinity of PLA incursions, but there are no attempts to outflank Chinese positions.
'We have to be prepared on the borders to withstand Chinese expansionist designs.'
The answer to Chinese tactics of nibbling territory is not defence of every inch -- a military impossibility -- but instead, nibbling at Chinese territory wherever we are in a stronger position, counsels Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
When Jiang Zemin traveled, as you can see in the photographs here, a Kodak Moment was never far away.
Only he, with his tremendous political capital and personal stature, can pull it off, observes B S Raghavan, the veteran civil servant.
'The war of 1962 exposed the hollow intellectual foundations of Nehruvian foreign policy, especially vis-a-vis China and that is why it was such a shock.'
Why omit the Tiananmen massacre from the history of China's Communist party, asks Claude Arpi.
'This reluctance to respond forcefully to Chinese PLA provocations and outright aggression has as much to do with Prime Minister Modi personally, as with the institutional mindset of the MEA or even the Indian Army.' 'They are scarred by the 1962 War and are still cowed by China.'
'The problem with such ill-considered remarks is that they give the BJP an opportunity to push ahead with its nationalist agenda which includes depicting its opponents as seditionists,' observes Amulya Ganguli.
It also dismissed Jaitley's remarks that India of 2017 is different from what it was in 1962, saying China too is different.
Once the tanks roll back, a zero-based assessment of future equations with China is necessary. Given the conflict situations that China is imposing on India time and again, the red, amber and green lines of interactions with China need to be laid down and communicated in no uncertain terms, asserts Srikanth Kondapalli, the leading China expert.
China will flood direct flights to India with wholesale takeaways of the authentic stuff; Indian businessmen will fight for the commission and the consumers for the cuisine, predicts Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
The Indians felt that if they acceded to Chinese claims in Ladakh, Beijing would simply be emboldened to press for further concessions in the future. A revealing excerpt from India And The Cold War.
There is simmering disquiet in the Communist party and the world is watching as to what can unfold in China in the days to come ahead of next year's party congress, notes Rup Narayan Das.
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.
The Wednesday talks took place amid a war of words between the two sides on perception of the LAC, the de-facto Sino-India border spanning a length of nearly 3,500 km.
'The Indian medical mission travelled thousands of miles to assist us and fought shoulder to shoulder with people of my father's generation against Japanese fascists. The fine representative, young Dr Kotnis gave his precious life in China,' Xi noted.
The stand by China spelt out by its foreign ministry insisting that it takes the 1959 line on perception of the LAC amid a nearly five-month-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh triggered a strong reaction from India.
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 Ladakh clashes are mere warning signals of the storm to come on May 22 when the Chinese parliament meets,' observes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
We have our own problems for sure and they are not trivial, but for now, our economy is in not too bad a shape, our politics is as personality-driven and authoritarian as that of most countries in the world. We must make the best of what we have and not be excessively unhappy looking at the grass on the other side of the septic tank which may not be greener after all!, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
As the context of Panchsheel has changed, it is all the more essential that India and China need to reinvent and redefine Panchsheel for a new world order taking into account globalisation, and mutual economic interdependence. The new Panchsheel, in order to be relevant, needs to shed its binary approach of west verses the east recognising the seamlessness of global frontiers, which globalisation has brought in, says Rup Narayan Das.
China has chosen to keep New Delhi guessing, while retaining for itself the option of constantly changing facts on the ground and shifting the LAC westwards -- the strategy called 'salami slicing', notes Ajai Shukla.
'He is psychologically preparing the PLA and the Chinese public to avoid a loss of face.'
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