India, July 23 -- India's defence minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S Jaishankar visited China recently in connection with the forthcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Beijing later this year, and aimed at preparing the ground for a possible prime ministerial visit that could be the first in seven years.

What is striking is the different tones adopted by the two ministers with their counterparts. During his visit in June, Singh created a minor flutter when he told his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, that there was a need "to have a permanent solution of border demarcation by rejuvenating the established mechanism on the issue".

Jaishankar's tone during his meeting with his counterpart, Wang Yi, in ...