India's warming relations with the United States - as shown by President Barack Obama's historic guest-of-honor appearance at the nation's Republic Day parade - may be too close for comfort for neighboring China.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi scored a diplomatic coup on Tuesday when he had Obama take part in the yearly celebrations, which is a spectacle showing New Delhi's military might. It is the first time a sitting American president attended the parade, made more significant that it is the second meeting between Obama and Modi in less than a year.

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Beijing, however, says it is not buying the show of friendship between Washington and New Delhi. China dismissed the relations between the world's two largest democracies as "fluff." Improving Indo-American ties, says China's official news agency Xinhua, is no more than a "superficial" arrangement.

In 1962, India and China traded barbs over a border dispute and the two are still locked in dispute over areas in Kashmir and the Himalayas.

In a commentary, Xinhua said the Obama's India visit is more "symbolic" than pragmatic, adding disagreements between Washington and Delhi may be as long as the geographical distance between them.

The agency's story recounted the diplomatic rift last year over an Indian diplomat jailed in New York for abusing a house help. Xinhua also mentioned a U.S. policy banning Modi from getting a visa to enter the U.S., following criticisms over his handling of religious riots in Gujarat.

The agency commentary said three days were barely enough for Obama and Modi to bond as true friends. But Xinhua failed to mention that the rift over the diplomat was with Modi's predecessor and, clearly, Washing and Delhi have put the incident behind them.

Modi could not get a U.S. visa while he sat as Gujarat's chief minister, a policy that went all the way back to the George W. Bush years. But Modi is now India's prime minister and he has completed an official visit to the U.S.

TagsU.S., Barack Obama, Obama Modi