India, April 1 -- On April 1, 1950, India became the first non-socialist bloc country to recognise the new Communist Party-led People's Republic of China. Two civilisational, post-colonial independent powers entered into a structured relationship for the first time. The handshake across the Himalayas ushered in a decade of bonhomie before the 1962 war along the disputed and unmarked mountainous border set back ties for years.

On Tuesday, President Droupadi Murmu and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged greetings to mark 75 years of diplomatic ties. Murmu and Xi's exchange, while couched in humdrum phrases like peaceful coexistence, mutual trust and benefit, common development and elephant-dragon tango, is significant. It is the first t...