As he steps into the dragon's lair, Defence Minister George Fernandes will surely reflect on the irony that takes him to Beijing on his first ever diplomatic exercise after spending years trashing the Chinese for their behaviour on Tibet and the boundary issues. Preparing the ground for a prime ministerial trip to China in May, Fernandes stated at Beijing's National Defence University that transfer of WMD technology to deviant states that use it to advance revisionist agendas should not be pursued-it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the allusion to the China-Pakistan connection.

CHINESE CHECKERS: Fernandes with his Chinese counterpart Cao Gangchuan in Beijing

This is the same Fernandes who, in the aftermath of India's nuclear tests in May 1998, referred to China as "Enemy No. 1"-a statement that did little to please the Chinese. However, things have moved qualitatively and substantively since then. From a burgeoning trade (up to almost $5 billion or Rs 24,000 crore) to progress on demarcation of the Line of Actual Control, Sino-Indian relations are looking up. On the agenda of the current visit are forays in military cooperation between the Indian and Chinese armies which have had virtually no contact for years. Best of all, Fernandes made the right noises. "This visit is particularly significant for me as it is my first visit to India's most important neighbour with whom we have had a relationship that goes back almost 2,000 years," Fernandes said. Clearly, there's no bull in the China shop.