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Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao in India: Perspectives on a Decade of Chinese-Indian Relations (1996 - 2006) During his November 20-23,2006 visit to India, President Hu Jintao undoubtedly meant to mark a new stage in the building of Chinese-Indian relations, held up as decisive for the world order. By the same token he complete a time cycle commenced ten years earlier by his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, the first PRC head of state to have made an official visit to neighboring India. It is the evolution of the relations between India and China that is analyzed in this article. A close look at the decade that elapsed between the two presidents’ respective visits inspires three rather provocative questions, or ones that in any event denote a certain skepticism, as much as regards what has changed as what has remained the same. Where does the border question stand today? For, despite efforts made since 1996, the two neighbors remain basically incapable of settling a territorial dispute that bears the stigma of the flare-up in 1962. What view should be taken of the Economic Partnership in the first decade of the 21st century, hailed as beneficial, whereas it causes a certain degree of friction? And what is the meaning of China’s recent backdown as regards possible civilian nuclear cooperation with India, which does nothing to resolve the issue of military nuclear arsenals, nevertheless at the crux of the balance between China and India?