In mid-April, a platoon of Chinese soldiers trooped some 20 km into territory considered India's and pitched tents and unfurled banners. When detected by Indian forces, the Chinese refused to leave, triggering a tense three-week standoff between the two Asian giants that ended only after both sides backed down from their windswept Himalayan posts and returned to the pre-existing status quo. The incident was the most dramatic flare-up between India and China in recent years, the latest reminder of how things can heat up along a vast, snowbound border that has for decades remained in dispute. Top officials in both New Delhi and Beijing tried to play down what happened. Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid described the border tensions as "acne" on the otherwise "beautiful face" of Sino-Indian relations. On a recent trip to Beijing, Khurshid insisted both countries "were on the same page" and "don't have prickly issues of significant difference" regarding the unsettled border. Ahead of newly installed Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's May 19 visit to India — his maiden foreign mission — the two countries have made conciliatory noises over resolving the thorny issue of the border, even though over a dozen rounds of talks have failed to achieve any real progress. In a measure to build trust, the two countries laid plans during the standoff to hold joint military exercises for the first time in five years. (PHOTOS: India's Wild East) The Indian government described the incident as "localized," which suggests that it was the fault of an errant Chinese official or local military commander, and not that of Beijing. Official talking points in both capitals tend to emphasize shared economic interests — annual bilateral trade is expected to reach $100 billion by 2015. Why should colonial-era quibbles over glaciers and desolate mountain passes get in the way? But while the Indian and Chinese governments have grown accustomed to managing a conflict frozen on the roof of the world, a whole new terrain of contest is emerging far away from the Himalayas: the Indian Ocean. An Indian Defense(http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&blog=19871253&post=86651&subd=timeglobalspin&ref=&feed=1)
Via: TIME GlobalSpin