So far, the Central Sector has never seen active hostilities, remaining peaceful even through the 1962 war. A reason for the Central Sector having remained peaceful is the towering Himalayan watershed that defines the border.
The prime minister and the Chinese president walked along the banks of East Lake and also took a boat ride together as they decided to step up their personal rapport.
China's military on Thursday asked the Indian Army not to take any "unilateral actions" affecting the stability of the border areas, days after the Indian side removed a Chinese-built hut in the Ladakh sector.
'India's military posture has become significantly stronger than China's on the 3,500-kilometre Line of Actual Control.' 'This is enhancing confrontation between the two sides,' points out Ajai Shukla.
'If an 'informal meeting' with Xi Jinping materialises before the SCO summit in June, that itself could be regarded as a significant breakthrough in India-China relations,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Indian and Iranian sources both confirmed to me that India and Iran are moving ahead to implement a payment system on buying oil from Iran and hope to finalise it very soon,' says Aveek Sen.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Arunachal Pradesh on Friday, February 20, irritated the Chinese government so much that it summoned the Indian ambassador to register its protest against Modi visiting a territory China claims as Southern Tibet.
In response the BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - have taken steps to strengthen cooperation such as setting up a joint development bank
India and China met and spoke a lot this year, but failed to produce any meaningful results.
A group of shepherds were asked to vacate the land by troops of the PLA.
'It will be foolhardy to overlook that this stunning shift in China's stance comes as the culmination of the severely damaged India-China relationship under the present government,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The brigade that conducted the drills was from the PLA's Tibet Military Command and is one of China's two plateau mountain brigades.
'The one aspect which no Indian military thinker would wish to see emerge is a LoC type of posture at the LAC.' 'The LoC is manned for 750 km and terrorist infiltration has led to the creation of a virtual fortress along its entire length.' 'Something mirroring this at the LAC is going to be expensive although deployment everywhere is not warranted there.' 'However, given the complete trust deficit, there appear few alternatives,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
China's closer and enhanced relationship with Pakistan is putting considerable strain in India-China relations, says former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
One of the major advantages of buying Iran crude is the additional credit period of 90 days that the country gives to India, compared to 30 days by other countries.
India has undertaken a number of structural reforms.
'At critical moments an inability to take tough decisions resulted in potentially far-reaching solutions slipping out of our grasp.' 'If similar opportunities come Narendra Modi's way will he act differently?' asks Karan Thapar.
Dying To Survive, on its way to becoming China's biggest box office hit, may compel the Xi Jinping government to change its policy towards Indian pharmaceutical companies, says Tarun Vijay.
'It doesn't look as if any sensible, worldly wise, person is in charge in China.' 'If at all anybody is in charge, it can only be a bunch of bumpkins of whom Xi has become a puppet,' observes B S Raghavan, the veteran civil servant.
The papers said India is using the Dalai Lama as a "diplomatic tool" against China for its "vice like veto" against India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and United Nations ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.
This is perhaps the most authoritative portrayal so far of Indian air power as a threat to China.
The delegations were led by Brigadier JKS Virk from the Indian side and Senior Colonel Chen Zheng Shan from the Chinese side
China has not limited the 'battle' to the diplomatic field alone; the People's Liberation Army has become aggressive on the ground too. The recent 'fights' in Northern Sikkim and Ladakh are part of the pattern, asserts Claude Arpi.
'China, much more than Pakistan, is a credible potential adversary with the ability to hurt our interests.' 'It must figure higher in our national security concerns,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Projecting the mining operations as part of China's move to take over Arunachal Pradesh, the report said 'people familiar with the project say the mines are part of an ambitious plan by Beijing to reclaim South Tibet'.
Overall, the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has focused on building ground-based air defense networks and network-centric operations rather than trying to match the Indian Air Force (IAF) in terms of straight fighter numbers along the border. All air assets fall under the Western Theater Command of the PLA, the largest geographic region of China's five military theater commands.
'China any day would prefer to team up with India and dump Pakistan once the resolution of the border dispute becomes an accomplished fact.'
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have gone beyond the cautious approach usually advocated by the tightly-knit 'China group' in the ministry of external affairs in dealing with Beijing.'
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have gone beyond the cautious approach usually advocated by the tightly-knit 'China group' in the ministry of external affairs in dealing with Beijing.'
'The intentions are clear as day! Let India build the infrastructure, then they will claim the land and use the infrastructure to their benefit.' Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd) speaks to IAF veterans who have flown in the Galwan Valley long before it became today's headlines.
China's state-run media on Saturday reiterated the country's claim on Arunachal Pradesh, contending that the area is under "illegal Indian occupation".
The celebrations in China will be second biggest in the world after India.
On his recent visit to China, the President made eminently sensible suggestions to improve relations except that they can't work in the present atmosphere.
Addressing the BRICS investment seminar in Mumbai ahead of the 5-nation Summit in Goa on October 15-16, Jaitley said the government has put FDI on automatic route in almost 90 per cent of the areas that are eligible for foreign direct capital.
Software market in India grew 10 per cent to $4.76 billion in 2013, driven by strong adoption of cloud or subscription-based services, research firm Gartner said.
Very few today realise that without Brigadier John Dalvi's courage, we would never have known what really happened during those tragic days of October/November 1962, reveals Claude Arpi.
'While we may aspire to be a democratic if smaller version of China, we may only manage to become a larger, more accomplished Indonesia,' says T N Ninan.
