Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had been the most senior U.S. official to talk of the seriousness of the breach, discussed it on Thursday with a Chinese diplomat in Washington, however, and a senior administration official said there would be a “démarche in coming days” — a diplomatic move.
Meaning of the word démarche from the Web:
1. a move or step or maneuver in political or diplomatic affairs princeton.edu
2. A démarche is a formal diplomatic representation of the official position, views, or wishes on a given subject from government to another. Démarches generally seek to persuade, inform, or gather information from a foreign government. Governments may also use a démarche to protest or object to actions by a foreign government. wikipedia.org
3. A diplomatic maneuver; one handled with finesse; A protest launched through diplomatic measures wiktionary.org
4. A word coined by the diplomatic community and referring to a strongly worded warning by one country to another and often, either explicitly or implicitly, with the threat of military consequence 4lawschool.com