BY ATUL ANEJA-Frontline

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In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Saturday, April 28, 2018. The leaders of China and India stressed the importance of close ties in talks Saturday, against the background of their rivalry for leadership in Asia and the potential for cooperation on economic and security matters. (Yan Yan/Xinhua via AP)

A fresh start?

Against a backdrop of accumulated grievances, highlighted by the Doklam standoff, the informal summit at Wuhan comes as an unprecedented trust-rebuild

ATUL ANEJA in Wuhan

Chinese President Xi Jinping poses with French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (not pictured) prior to a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on February 22, 2017.
Cazeneuve is on a three-day visit to China until February 23. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / FRED DUFOUR

Chinese challenge

The Chinese leadership seems to have realised that more than a “trade war”, it is about an “exceptionalist” America trying to block China’s rise as an

ATUL ANEJA in Beijing

BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 24: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Image was created as an Equirectangular Panorama. Import image into a panoramic player to create an interactive 360 degree view.) A general view of the Great Hall of the People during the closing of the 19th Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People on October 24, 2017 in Beijing, China. The 19th CPC National Congress is going to run 7 days and a new central committee of CPC will be produced. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Paradigm shift

Xi Jinping unveils a ground-breaking road map at the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China.

ATUL ANEJA in Beijing

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 10, 2008 shows a Chinese soldier (L) next to an Indian soldier at the Nathu La border crossing between India and China in India's northeastern Sikkim state.
China's ambassador said July 4, 2017 that the withdrawal of Indian troops from a disputed territory is a 'precondition' for peace, in an apparent escalation of a border row between the two Asian powers that has drawn in tiny Bhutan. Indian and Chinese troops are reportedly facing off on a section of land high in the Himalayas near what is known as the trijunction, where Tibet, India and Bhutan meet.
/ AFP PHOTO / DIPTENDU DUTTA

Border manoeuvres

The standoff in Doklam is emblematic of a growing competition between India and China for a larger geopolitical role in Asia.

ATUL ANEJA in Beijing

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves during a military parade on Saturday, April 15, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

China’s burden

China seems to be proposing to serve as the guardian of the North Korean regime, which is under threat of attack from the U.S. because of its defiant

ATUL ANEJA in Beijing

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with and Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma after their meeting at Trump Tower in New York, U.S., January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Chinese checkers

China’s leaders seem ready to face the headwinds likely to emerge from the U.S. in the coming months and turn them into opportunities.

ATUL ANEJA in Beijing

Soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy patrol near a sign in the Spratly Islands, known in China as the Nansha Islands, February 9, 2016. The sign reads 'Nansha is our national land, sacred and inviolable.' REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA. FROM THE FILES PACKAGE - SEARCH 'SOUTH CHINA SEA FILES' FOR ALL IMAGES TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Troubled waters

China defies the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling on its claims in the South China Sea.

A worker checks a TX4 at the end of the production line at the London Taxi Company in Coventry, central England, September 11, 2013. The London Taxi Company (LTC) on Wednesday restarted production of the famous black cab, six months after the business was saved by Chinese car maker Geely. REUTERS/Darren Staples (BRITAIN - Tags: BUSINESS TRANSPORT)

Short-term pain

Notwithstanding the painful restructuring of ties with Europe, in the short run China is likely to benefit from the extra elbow room for strategic man

ATUL ANEJA in Beijing

CRH380 (China Railway High-speed) Harmony bullet trains are seen at a high-speed train maintenance base in Wuhan, Hubei province, in this file photo taken December 25, 2012. A team of Chinese firms, along with the Export-Import Bank of China, are interested in designing, building, financing and maintaining California's proposed 800-mile high-speed rail project. REUTERS/Stringer CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

Structural shifts

Three development banks—the AIIB, launched on January 16, the EBRD and the NBD—point to the emergence of new centres of power and influence in the glo

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R), Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (C) and other foreign leaders leave after taking group pictures during the 14th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Prime Ministers' Meeting, in Zhengzhou, China, December 15, 2015. REUTERS/Ekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik/Pool ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS.

Road to multipolarity

The Zhengzhou conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation adds more muscle to the grouping by incorporating India and Pakistan as its full mem

ATUL ANEJA in Zhengzhou

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) speaks to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they visit Dacien Buddhist Temple in Xian, Shaanxi province, China, May 14, 2015. REUTERS/China Daily CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

Building bridges

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China did not produce any bilateral big-ticket announcements, but this absence was made up for by unprecedente

ATUL ANEJA in Beijing

China's President Xi Jinping (4th R) meets with the guests at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) launch ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in this October 24, 2014 file photograph. Britain said it has sought to become a founding member of the AIIB, making it the first Western nation to embrace the China-backed institution, but the United States reacted frostily to the development. The AIIB was launched in Beijing last year to spur investment in Asia in transportation, energy, telecommunications and other infrastructure. Analysts have said it could challenge the Western-dominated World Bank and Asian Development Bank. However, Britain's finance ministry said on March 12, 2015 that the AIIB could complement work already done in the region by those organizations. To match BRITAIN-ASIA/BANK REUTERS/Takaki Yajima/Pool/Files (CHINA - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS)

The Chinese century?

There seems to be no stopping the rise and rise of China as prominent members of the Atlantic alliance desert the U.S. to join China’s Asian Infrastru

Atul Aneja IN BEIJING

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