Right Sino-Indian move in right direction

Second, India and China should begin discussing nuclear security sooner than later, which will be a major confidence booster for both countries. They should start doctrine-level discussions to reassure each other of mutual "no-first use" strategy. This is especially crucial because India has become a player in the global nuclear debate. Though it may not be part of the initial process, nuclear-confidence building pacts should be discussed to enhance mutual trust. If peace is the ultimate objective, then dialogue and consensus building are the only ways to reach it.

Third, both countries have to prevent misinformation campaigns. Misinformation spreads when dialogue is absent. Regular dialogues and exchanges on military capabilities and doctrines can dispel misinformation. If workable understandings on capabilities do not develop on credible exchanges, hyperrealist nationalistic news tends to spread like wildfire.

China's views and ideas about international relations are certainly not hyperrealist. But because of lack of multidimensional dialogue and space for other perspectives, distorted versions of China's views about India are taken as truth by the sensitive Indian media.

More dialogues will create more space for diverse perspectives to be heard and told. At its minimum, it will create a chance for agreeing to disagree but within the framework of a sustained dialogue. Before India and China are able to concretize their mutual trust for a meaningful engagement, the fourth defense dialogue will do well to lay the path to sustainable peace between the Asian giants.

The author is a research scholar with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and doctoral scholar with the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.