'Could the Chinese have taken a leaf out of our book?' 'That their unprecedented build-up is their attempt at coercive diplomacy with India?' 'And if so, what is it that they could be expecting as a quid pro quo?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'The Chinese made their point repeatedly after August 5. They backed Pakistan more overtly than in the past.' 'Kashmir is not completely off their radar. But in order to keep the atmosphere surrounding the Chennai meeting, they did not discuss Kashmir.'
In a time of crisis like this, a government needs its people and politics united. A nation of India's size and diversity can't fight a stronger rival with fraying social cohesion, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'Given the way in which the PLA operates today, I don't believe local commanders were necessarily acting without approval of higher levels.' 'They were acting in a way which they believed they were carrying out the intent of the higher levels.'
'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).
'The Indian government wakes up after the fact when it can do nothing, or rather lacks the will to prosecute military actions to reverse these adverse PLA-driven developments.'
After making incursion bids in Ladakh through land route, Chinese troops have made several attempts to enter Indian waters at Pangong lake nestled in the higher reaches of Ladakh with the latest incident reported on Friday.
'Like Nehru, too, Modi has found dealing with Beijing more and more difficult and has adopted an increasingly assertive approach towards managing India's northern neighbour.'
'Ladakh is a tiny salami-slice issue.' 'The big one for China is Arunachal Pradesh, more than 83,000 sq km.' 'Do they imagine they can grab any of this by force?' 'In the 21st century, nursing those thoughts only means you need to get your heads examined.' 'It isn't going to happen,' declares Shekhar Gupta.
'There is a compulsion to look hard, decisive, and risk-taking; start something; and then conclude it in a way you can claim victory.' 'That is not such an easy option against China,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Today, the Ladakhis and Tibetans have been joined by the Sikhs, the Madrassis, the Garhwalis, the Rajputs, who are well trained psychologically and otherwise, to defend the nation, observes Claude Arpi.
Nearly two decades ago, then defence minister George Fernandes said: 'China has built roads up to the border, while there has been negligence on India's part.' Since Fernandes uttered these brave words, what has been done on the Indian side? The Modi Sarkar is apparently trying, but little has been achieved so far, says Claude Arpi.
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.
A number of royals have thrown their hat in the ring in the high-voltage Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
The seventh Tibet Work Forum was held in Beijing on August 28 and 29. Delhi should be deeply concerned, at a time India faces a precarious situation in Ladakh, because the TWF also defines China's western border policies, observes Claude Arpi.
The invitation to the "Dalai Lama for activity in the disputed areas between China and India will only damage peace stability of the border areas as well as the bilateral relationship between China and India", Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
Just like China wants Trump to lose the US presidential poll, it may want Modi to lose the Lok Sabha polls. So months before the 2024 elections, China may take possession of an important area, say one of the Char Dhams, warns Sanjeev Nayyar.
Lu said China will take 'further action' to safeguard its sovereignty.
He stressed the need for strengthening mutual trust and confidence while seeking solutions to outstanding issues.
On the border dispute, officials on both sides say the protracted boundary talks made progress, while both sides made attempts to avert tensions along the 3,488-kilometre-long Line of Actual Control, which remains undefined.
Arpi deserves to be complimented for the commitment and hard work that have gone into this production. The frustrations of seeking reliable documentation from the catacombs of the Indian bureaucracy did not deter him from going after the best information available, and the result is one that he can take much satisfaction in. Ambassador Prabhat P Shukla, Member Advisory Council, Vivekananda International Foundation, reviews Claude Arpi's The End of an Era: India Exits Tibet.
Right from conducting nuclear deterrence patrols in 2015 to its destructive space programme, from its back-tracking on economic commitments to its hardened positions on Sino-India border deal -- its approach with India spells Adversarial with a capital A, says Shehzad Poonawalla
'Why has the peace been kept?' 'Basically because there is a balance.' 'Maybe they think that balance has changed.' 'People can make mistakes. People can miscalculate.' 'If that is the cause, then I think what we have done, matching their build-up, etc, it is giving a good account of ourselves in the face-offs.'
The move was aimed at 'reaffirming China's claim over the state'. China claims the state as 'South Tibet'.
'All the political parties, should in order to deal with China, come together and formulate strategies to safeguard every single inch of Bharat.' RSS leader Indresh Kumar tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com why the Sangh wants the Modi government to convene an all-party meeting on the Chinese incursions into Indian territory.
Xi and Modi met soon after their arrival at a summit of the BRICS group of emerging powers. Xi said the two countries should join hands in setting global rules and suggested he attend the November meeting of the 21-nation APEC in Beijing, as well as take part in Chinese-led regional initiatives.
'The need of the hour is to build on the positives and control the negatives,' says Colonel (Dr) Anil A Athale (retd).
Besides the border question, India and China discussed issues related to counterterrorism including Beijing's blocking of India's bid in the United Nations to ban Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday began summit-level talks.
It is a dark legacy bequeathed by Nehru to India. In its DNA lies the subconscious fount of India's schizophrenic geopolitics that forsook in one sweep all its historically-entrenched strategic interests in Tibet in favour of China, says R N Ravi, on the 60th anniversary of the Panchsheel Agreement.
No Indian government has taken on China like this ever before and shows that the three top Indian officials -- Sushma Swaraj, Manohar Parrikar and Ajit Doval - ran into China's Great Wall on the twin questions of Pakistan and terror when they interacted with their Chinese interlocutors In past few days, says Rajeev Sharma.
'India in 2020 is a lot better prepared than in 1962.' 'It is no longer a pushover; and anything other than a crushing Chinese military victory will be a major loss of face for China,' observes Rajeev Srinivasan in the first of a three part column.
'This is potentially escalatory, as China does not believe that India has any basis for interfering in a bilateral dispute between China and one of its neighbours.'
Nevertheless, border dispute will feature prominently on Modi's agenda but the matter won't be discussed at length. Nayanima Basu reports
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the passage of bills as a "momentous occasion" in parliamentary democracy and said a new dawn awaits the people there as they are now free from the "shackles" of vested interest groups.
Outlining eight "pillars" for the future of India-China relations, President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday underlined the need for comprehensively resolving challenges including the boundary question through "political acumen" and "civilisational wisdom".
Claude Arpi's fascinating account of the Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang in March 1959.
'Does the Indian army's new assertiveness risk a clash escalating into shooting and possibly skirmishes?' asks Ajai Shukla.
How will the Modi Sarkar's likely return affect other nations?
Public interest centres on whether the two leaders might make headway in resolving the Sino-Indian boundary dispute.
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