Learning lessons, not scoring points, from the Doklam standoff | The Strategist

"The Chinese government has an amazing ability to frame the outcomes of all important foreign policy events as ‘win-win’, and to turn an abused adversary into a celebrated partner almost overnight. So many officials regard the resolution of the standoff as a win-win and India still a valued partner for cooperation—not least in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) forum, which started its latest summit five days after the mutual troop withdrawal was negotiated.

The more they think so, the better. Labelling it a Chinese ‘defeat’, as some observers have done, would generate a sense of humiliation at this time of rising nationalism and increase the temptation to exact revenge—and thus also the risk of future confrontation."