India has announced the creation of a new military corps of 50,000 troops, likely to be stationed along the often-contentious border with China. The shift to a China focus marks a move away from the long-held fixation on Pakistan and toward potential worries in the East.

This development comes close on the heels of the defense minister-level talks between New Delhi and Beijing recently in China. It also came a couple of months after the historic visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India in May after assuming office, during which he offered a new strategic deal with New Delhi and talked about an alliance with India to make the 21st century an Asian one.

The decision to create a strong mountain corps also came within a month of India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan, where both countries not only talked about economics but also emphasized strengthening security in South Asia and East Asia.

"The new military unit at the eastern sector is just for deterrence and an attempt to bridge a loophole that has been existing at the crucial sector for long as there is no good infrastructure in place," said Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, program director of the Aspen Institute India.

But Surya Gangadharan, a senior journalist, claims that "the new corps will not be used for defense, the orientation is offensive."

Whatever the intent, the development further accentuates the deficit of trust between the two large neighbors. It also puts a roadblock to the momentum generated by Li's visit.

Hands tied

But India seems reluctant to extend hands across the Himalayas, and the Indian public is more inclined to see China as a threat than a friend.

Explaining India's reluctance, "ordinary Indian people and opinion makers regard China as a threat rather than a friend. While India's border issue with China is still unsettled, many Indians feel anxious and worried as their neighbor is becoming more and more powerful. The feeling of anxiety is intensified by China's stance over its territorial disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea, which is often described by Indian and Western media as 'increasingly assertive,'" said Hu Shisheng, an expert on South Asia at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

"A stable relationship with India has become even more important for China in the new century, as China faces a deteriorating security situation in its surrounding environment, as a result of the territorial disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea, as well as the tensions in the Korean Peninsula. A stable Sino-Indian relationship can have a demonstrative effect on China's relationship with other neighboring countries," said Zhao Gancheng, director of South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

Just a day after Li's visit to India, a New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) released a poll jointly conducted by the Lowy Institute for International Policy and Australia India Institute, which showed that of 1,223 adults surveyed, 83 percent considered China a security threat and 63 percent favored a good relationship with their neighbor. But the media focused on the threat, and largely ignored the desire for a good relationship.

Many Chinese and Indian analysts believe the US does its part to encourage distrust between the two countries.

The Mumbai-based Economic and Political Weekly recently wrote that it has to do with Washington's "pivot to Asia" strategy of "isolating and containing China."

The article further argued that "given that Washington is increasingly seeking to use its strategic alliance with New Delhi to contain Beijing and is now drawing India together with its other strategic partners in Asia - Japan and Australia - in opposing China, the latter is naturally concerned about India's moves."

"The US has always been eager to draw India over to its side in order to contain China," said Hu.

Shifting alliances

Can this drift be arrested? Is India playing into the hands of the US?

"A new dynamism has been instilled into the relationship by the premier's visit," said Alka Acharya, professor of Chinese studies at the Center for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. "We have been seeing a slight drift in the relationship between the two nations over the years with the volume of trade going down and India's growing concern about China's rising power but the visit has given a new lease of life to the old tie."

But this optimism is not shared by the majority of opinion makers in India. "China has for quite some time tried to make a case that New Delhi and Beijing can cooperate on global issues, and they have cooperated on global trade and environment issues, demanding a restructuring of global financial institutions and so on, but that has not translated into any sort of momentum in bilateral ties. So it's unlikely that the latest reiteration by the Chinese premier will change many views in New Delhi," said Dr Harsh V. Pant, a lecturer at King's College London.

Chaudhury holds a similar opinion, arguing that "it is sheer rhetoric and an attempt to move India away from the US. Beijing is worried that India is being promoted by Washington as a counterbalance to China. They know that the only country that has potential to emerge as a regional power is India. The communist country is very uncertain about India. That's why it talks about regional cooperation with New Delhi."

Sujata Aishwarya Cheema, an academician with the Delhi-based Jamia Milia Islamia university, underlines the importance of new thinking in infusing dynamism into the Sino-Indian relationship.

"A stable South Asia needs a smooth relationship with China. Beijing's role is important to bring both India and Pakistan together and ease the tension between the two nations. This will have a positive influence in Afghanistan also and help the war-torn country in stabilizing," she said.

But Hu said that "India is unwilling to become a victim in the game between China and the US. Instead, it is trying its best to keep its strategic independence to maximize its gain from the game of world powers. As long as China can keep a stable relationship with India, the US can do little to draw India over."