NEW DELHI -- Behind the pomp and ceremony that greeted Indian President K.R. Narayanan during his state visit to China earlier this month was an important message: Beijing wants to strengthen its engagement with India, but not at the cost of its containment strategy. Despite hailing Narayanan as an "old friend" of China, the Chinese used his largely ceremonial visit to send clear signals on where they stand on Pakistan, terrorism, Tibet, a permanent seat for India in the U.N. Security Council and the Himalayan border issue.

While Narayanan deferentially dropped a passage explaining India's 1998 nuclear tests from a pre-released public speech, the Chinese seized the visit to publicly stand by their "all-weather" ally, Pakistan, and to lash out at the exiled Dalai Lama in a manner vicious even by their standards. Not only were the "foreign forces" behind the Dalai Lama denounced, the Tibetan leader was called an "arch criminal" and held responsible for rape, murder and child cannibalism during the failed 1959 uprising against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. This came from a state with the most shocking human-rights record of the past half-century.

In his gentle, diplomatic way, Narayanan drew the attention of his Chinese hosts to the need to resolve the outstanding India-China problems. But, repeatedly, the Chinese leaders laid stress on atmosphere building rather than dispute resolution. That was hardly a surprise. For China, engagement can actually facilitate containment if the emphasis is kept on atmospherics. It not only lulls the Indian establishment into a sense that things are moving in the right direction, it also allows Beijing to continue its game with India without having to give up any of its cards.