The incursions also come at a time when Beijing has expressed its objection to the proposed visit of Tibetan exiled leader Dalai Lama to Tawang, in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh which is claimed in its entirety by Beijing.

There was a media report about two Indian soldiers getting injured in firing by Chinese troops in Sikkim recently. But the Indian government denied it.

India and China have held 13 rounds of boundary negotiations which are led by Narayanan and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo to resolve the boundary dispute in accordance with political parameters and guiding principles finalised over three years ago. But there has been little progress in talks with both sides reiterating their stated positions.

What has worried the strategic establishment in India is the timing of recent Chinese incursions which follows a string of apparently hostile postures from Beijing over the last year. China tried to block India's quest for global nuclear trade in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in September last year, a development that cast a shadow over bilateral ties for some time.

More recently, China tried to block a developmental loan for India at the Manila-based Asian Development Bank on grounds that a part of it was meant for Arunachal Pradesh. Put together, these developments have revived the spectre of China being the principal security threat to India despite rapidly expanding trade and investment between the two countries.