Rare Earths, July 1 -- The most recent rounds of India-China engagement-via the SCO Security Council Secretaries' and Defence Ministers' meetings-offer a sharp illustration of the contradiction that defines their current bilateral: a willingness to engage diplomatically coexisting without strategic reconciliation.

India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's exchange in Beijing with Politburo Standing Committee member and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on June 23 was followed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's handshake with Chinese Defence Minister Admiral Dong Jun in Qingdao on June 26th, marking the continuation of diplomatic courtesies. But this diplomatic thaw-placed between the Narendra Modi-Xi Jinping interaction at the BRICS Summit ...