(Anchal Vohra is a Chief Correspondent with NDTV 24x7) Wrapped in the hug between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan's Shinzo Abe is a loaded message from India: Japan is a friend, China is not.
Over the last 100 days, the Modi government has sent several key messages to China. Before Chinese President Xi Jinping visits India this month, the PM chose to visit Japan.
A five-day Prime Ministerial visit is considered to be exceptionally long. During his visit to Japan, the PM made a reference to expansionist powers, read as China.
PM Modi has also visited Bhutan and Nepal -both countries share their borders with India and China and the latter is seen as expanding its sphere of influence, challenging India's role.
The India-China dynamic is a complex one. Here dispute and cooperation both seem inescapable.
Visits by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to three ASEAN nations - Myanmar, Singapore and most recently Vietnam, where a meeting focused on helping to train the Navy and make it more effective in countering China.
India is also looking at exploring five more oil blocks in the disputed South China sea, while is has gained an extension from Vietnam for another block it acquired earlier for exploration in the disputed waters.
But China's economic clout in different countries is hefty. Consider this - 1.5 million Chinese tourists visit Vietnam every year and 1.4 million Vietnamese visit China every year.
During Ms Swaraj's trip to Hanoi, Vietnam chose to send an envoy to China to mend ties after recent anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam.
And as it uses its economic strength, China is not toning down its territorial claims.
Recently the Philippines government released pictures of what appears to be a military base being built by the Chinese on the disputed reef Chigua. Once in control of the resource-rich sea, China leaves the rest of the nations with limited options.
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