India signalled to visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that the border issue is of "core interest", and withheld boilerplate acknowledge of India's commitment to the 'one China' principle. These are not without significance.
India's discourse with China has traditionally been trapped in the Mao-ist maze that defines how "friends" ought to conduct themselves. But Chinese statecraft has evolved, and India too must up its diplomatic game.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang begins his India visit today. If India plays its cards right, and protects its interests with finesse, the two countries have the capacity to reset their relationship.
Indian suspicions about Chinese grand strategems should not be allowed to impede any progress in the Sino-Indian border talks. But it is important to mark the boundary before committing to a freeze on troop and infrastructure build-up.
India and China have backed off from their eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation in the Himalayas. But there is reason to believe that India may have paid a high price by giving China the right to determine what happens on our side of the fence.
There is diplomatic space for India to exert itself against the Chinese incursion without resorting to military adventurism. But to exert the levers of coercive diplomacy, you need to know that you have a spine in the first place.
Perhaps this incursion was intended by the new Chinese leadership to signal Chinese frustration at the lack of progress in the talks on the border dispute despite years of negotiations. If that is so, it reflects raw power, not sagacity.
There are a whole range of graded options for India to signal its mind without resorting to belligerence. There is no time like the present to exercise them.
So long as India insists on pussyfooting its way around Chinese sensibilities, even in the face of grave provocations, India will continue be seen as a pushover.
Within the space of a month, Xi Jinping moderated his approach to settling the border dispute with India.
The US, the UK, France and Russia were among those that backed membership for India in the NSG, but China is dragging its feet and emphasising the need for equal treatment in South Asia".
There has been an inexplicable thaw in Sino-Indian relations, but it masks the fact that China is proceeding with its strategic outreach into India's neighbourhood.
India is stamping its own map on visas it issues to holders of new Chinese passports that contain a map depicting disputed territory within China's borders. It's the latest twist in tension in Asia over China's territorial claims.
Every time you think you've got her figured out, she surprises you. But it takes an effort to set aside your prejudices and get to know China as she steps out and engages with the world.
India's ability to prevent another humiliation in the future will depend upon its trans-Himalayan military strategy and capability.
If an opportunity presents itself, China they may not hesitate to seek a military solution to our border dispute.
India's weak-kneed response to the visiting Chinese Defence Minister deliberate breach of protocol will reinforce Chinese perceptions of India's weakness.
China is using the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation security grouping to protect its interests in Central Asia. India too wants in, but it should consider the extent to which it should participate in the security mechanism.
Former Army chief Gen JJ Singh floats a land-for-peace proposal on China. Here's why we should listen to him.
It was political stability that underwrote China's supernormal growth of decades, Today, after a political scandal centred around a privileged politician, that stability is at risk.
The move is seen as a shift in Chinese strategic thinking away from boxing India within South Asia.
China's infirm hold on Tibet, and the continuing wave of self-immolations, hold grave security implications for India, which is home to Tibetan exiles.
A village in China protests against a nuclear power plant in its backyard. How the government responds could be a contrasting case study with our own Kudankulam protests.
By treating the Tibetan uprising as only a law-and-order problem and dealing sternly with it, China is set on the wrong path in history.
Any future border settlement between India and China will be based on some form of land swap. But the challenges of forging a national consensus around that are formidable.
Locked in distrust, the two countries cannot even agree on how long their disputed border is. Chronicle of a troubled relationship.
A former US diplomat foresees India as the next global power, and reasons that it must defend its turf in its neighbourhood by keeping China out.
Without being drawn into a US network of allies and partners aimed at containing China, India can promote strategic convergence with the US and build up its defences against China.
Chinese strategic thinking in the Indian Ocean revolves more around energy security than power projection.
China breaks ranks with developing countries by committing - with conditions - to cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Pressure is now likely to mount on India to conform.