Wen grabs Singh’s arm as he stumbles on Monday. (Reuters)

Beijing, Jan. 14: Three steps to the podium in the centre of the grand Great Hall of the People flanking the Tiananmen Square and three steps down. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took that pride of place this afternoon. But on his way down to the guard of honour, he missed the second tread and stumbled just a wee bit for Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to hold his left elbow with both hands and steady him.

In the carefully choreographed sequences that go into the making of a summit meeting of Indian and Chinese leaders, symbolism often threatens to overwhelm substance. The stumble was not factored into the formal reception in the Great Hall ahead of the delegation-level talks.

Wen escorted Singh to the podium and the two stood at attention as the band played the national anthems of the two countries.

In front, a guard of honour of the land, naval and air forces of the People’s Liberation Army — made up of exceptionally tall soldiers, their chests bulging like barrels — stood still.

After the band played the last note, the commander of the guard unsheathed his sword, pointed it to the floor and shouted for the guard to get ready and requested the Prime Minister to inspect it. Wen curtsied Singh, requesting him to lead.

The two leaders were to step down from the podium, over which a red carpet with the thickness of a light mattress was laid. The carpet stretched all the way to the route that the two leaders were to take as they walked to the guard and past it. It was on the second tread, probably because of the extra cushion in the carpet, that the Prime Minister faltered but did not fall.

Wen assisted him with both hands before Singh, in a dark bandhgala and trademark blue turban, gathered himself and continued with a slow steady walk, turned right and right again past the press gallery and out of the hall into the room where the delegations sat across a long table.

But that momentary lapse sent a frisson through the security personnel. This was one ceremonial occasion when the Prime Minister’s Special Protection Group guards were not at arm’s length but around the hall.

In the audience were high-profile members of the official Indian delegation: commerce minister Kamal Nath, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, national security adviser M.K. Narayanan and ambassador Nirupama Rao.

On any other occasion, with the SPG surrounding the Prime Minister, the stumble might have gone unnoticed. But not here, where the large murals of the Stone Forest and the Great Wall on the walls and the huge Ming vases at the entrances and exits enhanced the spaciousness in the middle.

It might have been otherwise if the SPG were in closer proximity. But the dexterity of Wen’s movement and the Prime Minister’s awareness of the atmosphere combined to straighten him and regain his balance.

From the wine-inspired merry-making of Chinese and Indian soldiers at their first joint exercise in Kunming last month to the “restricted dinner” the premier invited the Prime Minister to in the Diaoyutai cottage of Beijing’s exclusive Zhongnanhai suburb yesterday, China-India relations make for designer diplomacy. Every word spoken and every toast raised is planned in advance.

An element of symbolism is almost always infused into diplomacy by nations across the globe. With India and China though, the importance of the symbol gets somewhat magnified because of the extra effort that must be put in to exhibit to the world that they aspire to overcome suspicions.

The stumble was spontaneous, non-choreographed, accidental.