If India wants to play a larger game, it must confront China's moves

India will need both internal and external balancing.

We are currently in a prolonged stand-off with Chinese forces on the Doklam plateau and it is hoped that this will be eventually resolved peacefully. But in dealing with such situations it is helpful to be aware of the overall context in which these specific events may be unfolding.

My sense, based on my own interpretation of China’s display of unusually aggressive and threatening behaviour, is that Beijing was caught on the wrong foot by the unanticipated action taken by India’s armed forces to confront China’s road building team in Doklam, which is Bhutanese territory. It has been engaged in