'He is psychologically preparing the PLA and the Chinese public to avoid a loss of face.'
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.
In an embarrassing disclosure for Pakistan, Chinese official media reported that the "spy" drone Pakistani army shot down along the Line of Control, claiming it belonged to Indian security forces, was made in China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has asked the People's Liberation Army to be combat ready to win a "regional war" and make sure that all decisions from the central leadership are strictly followed.
'There is little doubt that China today stands in the dock, charged with misdemeanour with regard to the health and well-being of its own citizens and of the people of the world,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
'The intrusion in Chumar, during and beyond the Chinese president's visit, is unprecedented and has qualitatively changed the tone of the India-China relationship,' says Jayadeva Ranade, a member of the National Security Advisory Board.
Pakistan is making efforts at multiple levels for the Taliban government to have a soft landing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The leadership is confronted with an economy growing at its slowest pace in 20 years,' points out Claude Smadja.
'The meeting marks the first tentative step in the effort to understand whether the two largest Asian nations can co-exist peacefully while realising their aspirations.' 'Caution and watchful wariness will dominate the effort of both sides,' says Jayadeva Ranade, former RA&W officer and China expert.
Opposition parties on Tuesday questioned the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh and asked them to take the nation into confidence on the matter, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party asserted that India's borders will remain intact under Modi's leadership.
We do not know, because there has been no discussion, no transparency and most likely no real thinking on this matter at our end, observes Aakar Patel.
China's National Health Commission, (NHC) said on Saturday that 18 new confirmed coronavirus cases were reported in the country on Friday, including six domestically-transmitted cases in Beijing. Also on Friday, seven new asymptomatic cases were reported, taking the total number of such people in quarantine to 98, it said.
'However, a lot of preparatory work would have to go in and China must be prepared to announce an end to the standoff by disengaging from the remaining areas along the LAC.'
'While China has been hiking its defence spending, India has done precious little in implementing the Manmohan Singh government's decision of raising a 90,000-strong China-centric Mountain Strike Corps,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'India and China have the wise and sage leadership to steer this complex relationship in the coming decades.'
'If you behave like a nail, the adversary will behave like a hammer.'
Disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai on Saturday said he had not acted to stop the embezzlement of government funds by his wife, the first time he has admitted to any of the charges against him since his trial began two days ago.
Talks between Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to improve the relations got off on a rough note at the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin, with Xie launching a blistering attack on Washington, accusing it of being the "owner of coercive diplomacy".
Robust military preparedness along the entire perimeter of our nation is the only iron-clad permanent guarantee for our security, asserts Vivek Gumaste.
An aggressive Pyongyang is likely to force Seoul and Tokyo to build nuclear deterrents and thus thwart Beijing's ambitions.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at Gandhi over his claims of being under surveillance by intelligence agencies and accused him of maligning India on foreign soil.
The death toll climbed to 2,592 with 150 new fatalities while the total number of confirmed cases increased to over 77,000, health officials said on Monday.
'Is China's intention not clear?' 'Do we still think that if we are nice to China, it will be good to us?'
Xi, the most powerful leader in recent decades heading the ruling Communist Party and the military, will now be the first Chinese leader after the founder chairman Mao Zedong to remain in power lifelong.
India has the ability in all respects to be a great power and address our security challenges in the best national interests, says Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will be the second railway line into Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project. It will go through the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the world's most geologically active areas, according to the Chinese official media.
'The notion of a single unarmed town challenging the might of the People's Republic is a little absurd,' says Mihir Sharma.
The president said China would never allow "any people, organisation or political party to split any part of Chinese territory out of the country at any time, in any form."
Not all change is good, but this one is, applauds Shekhar Gupta.
Trump spoke to Xi over telephone, days after the US president angered Beijing by referring to the coronavirus as "Chinese virus" and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China's ruling Communist Party poses a substantial threat" to Americans' health and their way of life.
Words and actions like those of R N Ravi and a vocal section of the state BJP have only added to Tamil fears and suspicions, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
It is premature to make the assumption that Biden's policy toward China will not be a break with Trump, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Chinese observers forecast that whether it is Trump or Biden, they are expected to follow tough and hardline policies towards Beijing as part of US efforts to contain the rise of China.
With flowers pinned to their chests, Xi and other Chinese leaders paid a silent tribute in front of the national flag to the victims of the COVID-19, which is regarded as the worst public health disaster in China's history.
The tally from the weekend showed 37 new cases on Sunday with most testing positive after arrival at the airport
'If the situation deteriorates and there is further escalation, the USA is in preparedness.'
Zhang Wenhong, who heads the Covid-19 clinical expert team in Shanghai and leads the infectious disease department at one of the eastern metropolitan city's top hospitals, expects that in the long term, countries will have to take a flexible approach to recurring outbreaks.
'The choice of Dhoka La for the intrusion by Chinese troops is significant and suggests a twin objective of pressuring Thimpu to allow Beijing to establish an embassy there and reinforcing Chinese claims on Arunachal Pradesh,' warns former RA&W officer Jayadev Ranade.
United States President Donald Trump has said that he will have a "very, very great relationship" with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as the two leaders met in the Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago for the first time.
China on Monday said it will conduct a joint live-ammunition exercise in the country's southwestern Yunnan Province bordering Myanmar.