CHENNAI, India — New Delhi recently allowed Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to visit the Buddhist monastery town of Tawang in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. This region, which lies on the Indo-Tibetan border, has long been claimed by China as its own — or at least parts of it, and most certainly Tawang.

Beijing calls Arunachal "Southern Tibet," and for many years India did not let the Dalai Lama visit Tawang. It relented this time over bitter protests by China.

Tawang occupies a special place in the heart of the Tibetan leader. It is the most sacred town on the Tibetan Buddhist map after Lhasa. And Tawang was the point through which he entered India 50 years ago after fleeing Tibet. He was sick, weak, depressed and angry at the time the people of Tawang offered him shelter and comfort. Later, Dharamshala in northern India became the Tibetan seat of administration in exile.

Beijing has fumed over the Dalai Lama's visit, which is seen as India's way of affirming its right over Arunachal and as a call by the spiritual leader and his people, however veiled, for greater autonomy in Tibet, if not outright independence.

The Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, People's Daily, in an unusually harsh comment, attacked India in mid-October as "a previous victim of colonialism and hegemony that has started to dream about developing its own hegemony."

India has a long-standing border dispute with China, but several rounds of talks between the two since 2007 have not produced any tangible result. That's mainly because New Delhi is in no mood to yield even an inch of land in Arunachal due to the humiliating defeat it suffered in a brief border war with China in 1962.

New Delhi's intention of not allowing Beijing to get the upper hand with regard to disputed territories became clear last June when India announced the stationing of a squadron of nuclear- capable Sukhoi 30 MKI fighters within striking distance of Arunachal.

Earlier in October 2008, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Arunachal during the runup to parliamentary elections. China was furious because it has always viewed any such visit as inimical to its own interest. Immediately after the visit, it tried, and failed, to block an Asian Development Bank loan to India that included flood control in the state.

While New Delhi seems to be getting tougher in its dealings with its powerful neighbor, the West, particularly the United States, has in recent months been careful not to offend Beijing, given the current economic crisis. India's permitting the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang is a case in point.

The Obama administration has adopted a policy of strategic reassurance toward China in order to get its help in pumping oxygen into the world economy and to make sure that China does not dump its huge holdings of American public debt. This could be one reason why the India-U.S. relationship has cooled somewhat lately. The tieup may not remain in the same favored state it enjoyed during the Bush era. The former American president may have been a villain to much of the world, but his tenure was marked by softness toward New Delhi. The nuclear nonproliferation treaty is ample proof.

Beyond Tawang and Washington lies a fierce competition between India and China, each dreaming of becoming not just an Asian leader but a global one. Both have an excellent chance of attaining that. One's decline could benefit the other's rise. Suspicious of the growing Chinese influence, particularly in South Asia, New Delhi may see Tibet as a tool to check Beijing.

India sees Obama's first official visit to Asia, including China, as a great opportunity to play the Tibet card. Obama had refused to meet the Dalai Lama when he was in Washington some weeks ago, although the president had promised to meet the leader at a future day.

With New Delhi determined to get the Tibet issue rolling, Obama must walk a tightrope to avoid overtly displeasing Beijing. India for him can be no more than a secondary issue. Hardly a good development for Tibetans' aspirations.

Gautaman Bhaskaran is a journalist based in Chennai, India.