The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India

by Vijay Gokhale

The Joint Secretary for East Asia (equivalent to Director General), therefore, travelled to China in February 1999 for a meeting with his counterpart, the Director General for Asian Affairs. This meeting consisted of accusations and counteraccusations, and at one point devolved into a verbal slanging match. This was intentional on the Chinese part. The Chinese vented all their frustrations on the Indian delegation, but they are also past masters in the art of perception management. Hence, when the leader of the Indian delegation met with the Assistant Foreign Minister Wang Yi (now the state councillor and foreign minister of China) later that same afternoon, the latter declared that the Sino-Indian relationship had returned to the correct path.