India, Sept. 3 -- In diplomacy, every word and phrase matters. This is especially true when two countries are negotiating a disputed border. So, the appearance of a phrase "early and substantial harvest on boundary delimitation" in an eight-point joint China-India statement - the first in 11 years - after the 25th round of talks between the special representatives (SR) is fraught with strategic implications.

The phrase "early harvest" has been around for over a decade, but the usage of "substantial" is, well, substantial, even though all its implications are not yet clear. This comes on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's first visit to New Delhi since 2019 and amidst moves by the two sides to step up their economic and investment ...