In spite of irritants and hiccups in the relationship, a few deliverables are expected of the prime minister's visit to China, says Rup Narayan Das.
'Instead of isolation, India should respond militarily to every act of terrorism assessed to have come from across the border, unilaterally declare Pakistan a State that supports terrorism and cease all economic dealings with it.'
'Even in this age of self-willed and authoritarian leaders and spontaneous gestures, a script is still written,' notes Ambassador B S Prakash, imagining the 'talking points' are for the India-US summit on June 26.
'Little did those in India's strategic community realise that any wise adversary in China's place and circumstances would only take the land route to disturb and trouble India.' 'It is along the land border that all of India's post-Cold War allies would be of little or no political and diplomatic, and least of all, military help,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Who would have thought that Brexit would take place or Donald Trump would become US president or Kim Jong-un's madness could bring the prospect of nuclear war over Asia?' 'It is the time of the unexpected; the French elections should perhaps be seen in this perspective,' says Claude Arpi.
India needs to tread cautiously on the growth path.
'China any day would prefer to team up with India and dump Pakistan once the resolution of the border dispute becomes an accomplished fact.'
'We are witnessing a spectacle of breathtakingly creative diplomacy at work, riveted on the firm foundations of the country's strategic autonomy,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Although the India-Japan relationship has its own driving forces in terms of robust economic ties and shared values, China is the elephant in the room in the strategic parleys between the two countries, says Rup Narayan Das.
With Beijing having had a profound rethink on India's admission as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the tectonic plates of the geopolitics of a massive swathe of the planet stretching from the Asia-Pacific to West Asia are dramatically shifting. That grating noise in the Central Asian steppes will be heard far and wide -- as far as North America, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Immediate NSG membership will not help India realise its nuclear ambitions any faster. It could have easily left the process take its own course, instead of running a high-stakes campaign to get in, says B S Raghavan.
This and more from the happenings in the world of footbal.
'In India, China's capacities to conduct new types of warfare is critically underestimated,' says Claude Arpi.
Despite a lot of lip service to national unity, functional relations between the Han Chinese immigrants and the Uyghur regional majority have not developed on equitable basis, says R Hariharan
'The book has immense value because it reveals the inner workings of the think-tank which appears to provide facts and insights to Modi, though he himself takes the final decisions and articulates them in his characteristic rhetorical style,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Devyani -- she is a public servant and her personal life has already received far too much attention -- and her ambitious father now need to retreat to the background so that wiser diplomatic heads restore sanity to India-US relations as India prepares for parliamentary elections,' says Ambassador K C Singh.
'It is certainly time for New Delhi to open up. Not only should it go ahead at full steam with the roads to the LAC, but the government must also allow tourists to visit these stunningly beautiful areas of Indian territory.'
Following is the full text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at the Central Party School in Beijing on Thursday:
'If, as appears to be the case, India is on way to 'mending fences' with China, and China is equally desirous to 'reset' the relationship, this could be a self-reflexive moment in India's positioning vis-a-vis not just the Dalai Lama, but also the Tibetan issue and China as a whole,' points out China expert Alka Acharya.
'If you say I won't talk to them at all, does terrorism stop?' 'Even if they say they will give up terrorism, "I will fight terrorism along with you," but even then you say I still won't talk to you until you do the following things, then that is a political call.'
'The real test will be in defence-related deals, for instance the Javelin anti-tank missile: Is the US willing to co-develop something with India, on terms that will support the 'Make in India' initiative? Is there defence technology transfer? Or will it dump old junk on India?' asks Rajeev Srinivasan.
'Modi as the PM of the country has to take everybody on board and deliver on good governance. That is his responsibility. In that talking alone won't help, he's working.' Commerce Minister Dr Nirmala Sitharaman tells Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com how the Modi government plans to change India.
A sensational interview on India-China ties, with the man most qualified to answer.
Arvind Subramanian talks about US and China's power play and where India figures in these dynamics.