India's defence ministry occupies the soaring colonnades of the Secretariat Building, an imposing legacy of the British Raj in the heart of New Delhi.
This is the capital of a country enjoying an economic boom, where hundreds of millions have been lifted from poverty and entered the world of shopping malls and mobile phones. But inside a symbol of an old empire, India's military establishment is contemplating the challenge posed by the other new world power on its northern frontier.
China and India, which together comprise almost 40 per cent of the world's population, harbour a longstanding rivalry which could shake the world in future decades.
Their 2,100 mile border, spanning the Himalayas, is the longest disputed frontier on Earth. China defeated India in a border war in 1962 and now occupies 16,500 square miles of territory claimed by its neighbour in the Himalayas. Officially, China also lays claim to an entire Indian state, Arunachal Pradesh.
