The response from the Indian side during the recent border incident was much more robust. However, it is important to examine the likely motives that drive the Chinese to raise the ante before the high-level visits to India.

While the government is widely seen as investor-friendly, investment decisions, however, are made on more tangible considerations – ease of doing business, security of investment and intellectual property rights, and returns on investment.

Given that the onus for settling the border disputes with Nepal and Bangladesh is on India, the Indian government has to demonstrate political wisdom in evolving political framework that would satisfy the national interests of both India and Nepal as well as win over the domestic opposition to the LBA.

The recent heavy firing by the Pakistani army is to gain public sympathy and providing it greater flexibility in the flawed civil-military relations. It is an orchestrated plan to provoke India believing that it can take such a risk of escalation in the back drop of its effective nuclear capability.