Venky Vembu makes a point about India’s foreign policy tone changing towards China.
For long, Indian diplomacy towards China has had only one aim: to avoid saying or doing anything that would provoke a repeat of the 1962 war. Former National Security Adviser MK Narayanan said as much in his interactions with US diplomats, noting that India had concerns about China’s high military spending. Towards that end, if it meant walking on eggshells to avoid offending Chinese sensibilities, India was more than happy to do that, even offering apologies where none were required. But now the worm has turned. India has learnt in recent times to put up a more robust defence of its security interests when confronted by Chinese muscle-flexing – be it in in their disputed border areas, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, or farther afield in the South China Sea.
