Manmohan Singh, India’s usually mild-mannered prime minister, set the tone with a blunt warning in September. He spoke of a “new assertiveness” in China, which he said was seeking a “foothold in South Asia”. Subsequently he shuttled about Asia, promoting a “look east” policy of warmer ties with fellow democracies that fret, like India, about a more nationalistic China.

In October Mr Singh signed a trade deal with Japan and pushed for rapid implementation of an existing one with south-east Asian allies. On December 10th he waved two undiplomatic fingers at insistent Chinese demands that India join a boycott of the Nobel peace-prize ceremony for a jailed Chinese human-rights activist (see article). Ramming home the point on December 13th, India’s foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, chided China’s ambassador at a public meeting in Delhi. She said her “Chinese friends” should get used to dealing with the “vibrant…noisy, nature of our democracy”.

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Ms Rao was responding to the ambassador’s dark warning that criticism of China during a rare visit by Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, to India between December 15th and 17th, could threaten “fragile” bilateral ties. He added that these would be “difficult to repair” if broken. India’s leaders are not in a mood to listen. In Delhi a few hundred Tibetans were left to demonstrate against Mr Wen as he arrived. More striking, the Dalai Lama, their spiritual leader, embarked at the same time on an eight-day trip to Sikkim, a north-eastern state on the border with Chinese-run Tibet. That excursion, like one last year to Arunachal Pradesh—Indian territory claimed by China as “south Tibet”—seemed designed to arouse Chinese ire.

China has certainly been doing its bit to provoke the ire of the Indians. It reportedly sent several thousand soldiers to parts of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir this year, to build roads for its “all-weather” ally. It has denied visas (other than ones stapled to passports) to Indian Kashmiris and to a general responsible for Kashmir, a hint that it might not respect Indian control of the territory.

India has responded by suspending regular bilateral defence meetings. But Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, suggests going further. “Why should India have a one-China policy, when China doesn’t have a one-India policy?” he asks. “What if we started stapling passports from Tibet?” Though this is never likely to be adopted as policy by the government in Delhi, the very suggestion would make China furious.

The Indians’ increasingly strong ties with America are bolstering their confidence in dealing with China. President Barack Obama visited Delhi a month ago and earned much goodwill by offering hearty support for India’s bid for permanent membership of the UN Security Council (China is distinctly lukewarm). This cosying up between India and America makes China all the more prickly.

The two countries laud their booming bilateral trade, which should reach $60 billion this year. But Indian officials fret openly about China’s trade surplus of some $20 billion. They complain that barriers to China’s domestic market mean that India is mostly shipping unrefined minerals and primary goods, getting finished products in return. Mr Wen, accompanied by some 400 businessmen, announced new loans, investment deals and the sale of 36 coal-powered generators to India. But little of this was likely to lead to higher-value exports to China. Chinese talk of a free-trade deal that would expose India’s inefficient manufacturers to fierce competition has been given short shrift.

Other headaches persist. India worries that China is throwing up huge dams in Tibet that might divert water from rivers flowing over the border. It frets about cyber-attacks from China. Ever resentful of China’s invasion in 1962, it shudders at hawkish talk in the Chinese press.

This week a Chinese newspaper, Global Times, published an essay by a member of the country’s Academy of Military Science. In it the author lamented, perhaps with India in mind, “we have not recovered the land looted by our neighbours, so how can we boast of being a strong nation?” Many Indians feel much the same way about China.

from PRINT EDITION | Asia