Both nations suddenly realised the irrationality of their actions. China realised that while it has a much higher CNP, particularly the economic and military component, the differential is not so much that it can do a “South China Sea” in the Himalayas. No matter how much “loss of face” it perceives on the BRI issue, it can no longer browbeat India using the border dispute as a casus belli short of a war in a nuclear backdrop – a situation that may seal the fate of the “Chinese century”. India also realised that given the vast differential in CNP, it needs to adopt a realistic approach in dealing with China without losing self-respect.