wang li

Some two years into the military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi paid a short visit to India last week. The India leg of his trip was shrouded in secrecy even as other parts of the itinerary — Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nepal — were well publicised. In diplomacy, secret visits are sometimes intended to break long-standing logjams and demonstrate a commitment to the resolution of conflicts. But this was no such visit. It was primarily aimed at testing India’s resolve and assessing if changing global geopolitics made New Delhi more amenable to giving in to China, much like in the past.