India, Feb. 10 -- China's pithy, almost dismissive, response to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's connect between the border and bilateral ties has escaped notice. In reply to Jaishankar's multiple complaints about China's erratic behaviour in altering the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in breach of existing protocols and violations of peace and tranquility, Beijing simply repeated its mantra that Indo-China relations have to be de-coupled from the border dispute. At the all-India conference on China Studies in New Delhi last month, Jaishankar summarised his various comments across eight months on the border issue into three "mutuals": Recognition of mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest; and eig...