View source for Aksai Chin

{{Short description|Part of Kashmir administered by China}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Too few opinions|discuss=Talk:Sino-Indian War#Sources|date=September 2017}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Aksai Chin
| type               = Territory administered by China
| other_name         = Aksayqin
| image_skyline      = 
| image_caption      = 
| image_map          = File:Kashmir region. LOC 2003626427 - showing sub-regions administered by different countries.jpg
| map_alt            = Map of the disputed Kashmir region showing areas of control by India, Pakistan, and China
| map_caption        = A map of the disputed [[Kashmir]] region showing the Chinese-administered territory of Aksai Chin in dark brown on the right.<ref name=tertiary-kashmir/>
| image_map1         = {{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-width=300|frame-height=170|frame-align=center|zoom=4|type=point|title=Aksai Chin|marker=city|type2=shape|stroke-width2=2|stroke-color2=#808080}}
| map_caption1       = Interactive map of Aksai Chin
| coordinates        = {{Coord|35.0|N|79.0|E|display=inline,title}}
| area_total_km2     = 38000
| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = * [[China|People's Republic of China]] (administered by)
* [[India]] (claimed by)
| subdivision_type1  = [[Counties of China|County]] or [[List of districts in India|District]]
| subdivision_name1  = * [[He'an County]] and [[Hekang County]] in [[Hotan Prefecture]], [[Xinjiang]]
* [[Rutog County]] in [[Ngari Prefecture]], [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]]
* [[Leh district]] in [[Ladakh]] (claimed by India)
}}

'''Aksai Chin''' is a region administered by [[China]] partly in [[He'an County]] and [[Hekang County]] of [[Hotan Prefecture]], [[Xinjiang]],<ref name="cihai" /> and partly in [[Rutog County]] of [[Ngari Prefecture]], [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]], and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger [[Kashmir]] region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and China since 1959.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web |last1=Pletcher |first1=Kenneth |title=Aksai Chin {{!}} History, Conflict, & Map |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Aksai-Chin |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=24 July 2025 |language=en |quotation=Aksai Chin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of Ladakh union territory.}}</ref> China administers the region and claims it as part of the [[Xinjiang]]{{efn|Specifically the [[Counties of China|counties]] of [[He'an County|He'an]] and [[Hekang County|Hekang]] in [[Hotan Prefecture]].}} and [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet autonomous regions]].{{efn|Specifically [[Rutog County]] in [[Ngari Prefecture]].}}<ref name="tertiary-kashmir"> The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of [[Kashmir]] and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the [[Wikipedia:TERTIARY|tertiary sources]] (a) through (e), reflecting [[Wikipedia:DUE|due weight]] in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (h) through (i) below, "held" is also considered politicized usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (j) below). <br />
(a) {{citation |title=Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |accessdate=15 August 2019}} (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories.";<br /> (b) {{citation |last1=Pletcher |first1=Kenneth |title=Aksai Chin, Plateau Region, Asia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Aksai-Chin |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |accessdate=16 August 2019}} (subscription required) Quote: "Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state."; <br /> (c) {{citation |title=Encyclopedia Americana |page=328 |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_cWAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA328 |chapter=Kashmir |publisher=Scholastic Library Publishing |isbn=978-0-7172-0139-6}} C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester Quote: "KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partlv by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947"; <br /> (d) {{citation |last1=Osmańczyk |first1=Edmund Jan |title=Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: G to M |pages=1191– |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fSIMXHMdfkkC&pg=PA1191 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-93922-5}} Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." <br />(e) {{citation |last=Talbot |first=Ian |title=A History of Modern South Asia: Politics, States, Diasporas |pages=28–29 |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNg_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-19694-8}} Quote: "We move from a disputed international border to a dotted line on the map that represents a military border not recognized in international law. The line of control separates the Indian and Pakistani administered areas of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir.";  <br /> (f) {{citation |last=Skutsch |first=Carl |title=Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II |page=573 |year=2015 |editor-last=Ciment |editor-first=James |chapter=China: Border War with India, 1962 |edition=2nd |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7656-8005-1 |quote=The situation between the two nations was complicated by the 1957–1959 uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule.  Refugees poured across the Indian border, and the Indian public was outraged.  Any compromise with China on the border issue became impossible.  Similarly, China was offended that India had given political asylum to the Dalai Lama when he fled across the border in March 1959.  In late 1959, there were shots fired between border patrols operating along both the ill-defined McMahon Line and in the Aksai Chin. |orig-year=2007}}<br />  (g) {{citation |last=Clary |first=Christopher |title=The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South Asia |page=109 |year=2022 |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780197638408 |quote=Territorial Dispute: The situation along the Sino-Indian frontier continued to worsen.  In late July (1959), an Indian reconnaissance patrol was blocked, "apprehended," and eventually expelled after three weeks in custody at the hands of a larger Chinese force near Khurnak Fort in Aksai Chin.  ... Circumstances worsened further in October 1959, when a major class at Kongka Pass in eastern Ladakh led to nine dead and ten captured Indian border personnel, making it by far the most serious Sino-Indian class since India's independence.}} <br /> (h) {{citation |last=Bose |first=Sumantra |title=Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace |pages=294, 291, 293 |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ACMe9WBdNAC&pg=PA294 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02855-5}} Quote: "J&K: Jammu and Kashmir. The former princely state that is the subject of the Kashmir dispute. Besides IJK (Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The larger and more populous part of the former princely state. It has a population of slightly over 10 million, and comprises three regions: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh.) and AJK ('Azad" (Free) Jammu and Kashmir. The more populous part of Pakistani-controlled J&K, with a population of approximately 2.5 million.), it includes the sparsely populated "Northern Areas" of Gilgit and Baltistan, remote mountainous regions which are directly administered, unlike AJK, by the Pakistani central authorities, and some high-altitude uninhabitable tracts under Chinese control." <br /> (i) {{citation |last=Fisher |first=Michael H. |title=An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century |page=166 |year=2018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZVuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-11162-2}} Quote: "Kashmir’s identity remains hotly disputed with a UN-supervised “Line of Control” still separating Pakistani-held Azad (“Free”) Kashmir from Indian-held Kashmir."; <br /> (j) {{citation |last=Snedden |first=Christopher |title=Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris |page=10 |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5amKCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-1-84904-621-3}} Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'."</ref><ref name="cihai" /> [[India]] meanwhile claims it as part of [[Leh district]] in the [[union territory]] of [[Ladakh]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Fareed |first=Rifat |title=Why India's Ladakh is witnessing growing discontent |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/17/india-ladakh-discontent-statehood-kashmir-china-pakistan-autonomy |access-date=24 July 2025 |work=[[Al Jazeera]] |language=en |quotation=Since that war, China has been controlling the Himalayan area of Aksai Chin, which India claims is a part of the Leh district.}}</ref>

==Name==
Aksai Chin was first mentioned by Muhammad Amin, the [[Yarkand]]i guide of the [[Hermann von Schlagintweit|Schlagintweit brothers]], who were contracted in 1854 by the British [[East India Company]] to explore Central Asia. Amin explained its meaning as "the great white sand desert".<ref name="van Driem">{{cite book |first=George L. van |last=Driem |date=25 May 2021 |title=Ethnolinguistic Prehistory: The Peopling of the World from the Perspective of Language, Genes and Material Culture |publisher=BRILL |page=53 |isbn=978-90-04-44837-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6EswEAAAQBAJ}}</ref> Linguist [[George van Driem]] states that the name intended by Amin was ''Aqsai Chöl'' ({{langx|ug|ﺋﺎﻗﺴﺎﻱ چۆل}}; {{lang-cyrl|ақсай чөл}}) which could mean "white ravine desert" or "white coomb desert". The word ''[[:wikt:چۆل|chöl]]'' for desert seems to have been corrupted in English transliteration into "chin".<ref name="van Driem"/>

Some sources have interpreted ''Aksai'' to have the [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]] meaning "white stone desert", including several British colonial,<ref name="british_india_1862">{{cite book |author=Government of Punjab |title=Report on the Trade and Resources of the Countries on the North-western Boundary of British India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4GEOAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PR21 |year=1862 |publisher=Government Press |location=Lahore |pages=xxii. c |quote=the "Aksai Chin," or as the term implies the great Chinese white desert or plain.}}</ref><ref name="asiatic_society">{{cite book |title=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ma8IAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA50 |year=1868 |publisher=Bishop's College Press |page=50 |quote=the Akzai Chin or White Desert}}</ref> modern Western,<ref name="Kaminsky">{{cite book |last1=Kaminsky |first1=Arnold P. |last2=Long |first2=Roger D. |title=India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic &#91;2 volumes&#93;: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVxlfDHGTFYC&pg=PA23 |date=23 September 2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-37463-0 |page=23 |quote=Aksai Chin (as Uyghur name meaning "desert of white stones") |access-date=11 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200405051052/https://books.google.com/books?id=VVxlfDHGTFYC&pg=PA23 |archive-date=5 April 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="naval_war_college">{{cite book |title=Naval War College Review |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFpCNsIhNQQC&pg=PP106 |year=1966 |publisher=Naval War College |page=98 |quote=During these same months, the route across the portion of Ladakh known as Aksai Chin (white stone desert) is highly traversable.}}</ref><ref name="HedinAmbolt1967">{{cite book |author1=Sven Anders Hedin |author2=Nils Peter Ambolt |title=Central Asia Atlas, Memoir on Maps: Index of geographical names, by D.M. Farquhar, G. Jarring and E. Norin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wiHxAAAAMAAJ |year=1967 |publisher=Sven Hedin Foundation, Statens etnografiska museum |page=12 |quote=Aksai Chin, region between the K'unlun main range and the Loqzung Mountains: T. eq say 'white gravelly plain' + cin '(of) China' (Cin, earliest designation by which China was known in Central Asia).}}</ref><ref name="Lintner2018">{{cite book |author=Bertil Lintner |title=China's India War: Collision Course on the Roof of the World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-L9DDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT85 |date=25 January 2018 |publisher=OUP India |isbn=978-0-19-909163-8 |pages=85 |quote=The name Aksai Chin means 'the desert of white stones'}}</ref> Chinese,<ref name="cihai">{{cite book |editor1=夏征农 |editor2=陈至立 |script-title=zh:辞海：第六版彩图本 |trans-title=[[Cihai]] (Sixth Edition in Color) |date=September 2009 |location=上海. [[Shanghai]] |publisher=上海辞书出版社. [[Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House]]. |isbn=9787532628599 |language=zh |page=0008 |quote={{lang|zh-hans|'''阿克赛钦''' 地名区。维吾尔语意即"中国的白石滩"。在新疆维吾尔自治区和田县南部、喀喇昆仑山和昆仑山间。}}}}</ref><ref name="gongbao">{{cite journal |journal={{lang|zh-hans|[[:zh:中华人民共和国国务院公报|中华人民共和国国务院公报]]}} (Bulletin of the State Council of PRC) |url=http://www.gov.cn/gongbao/shuju/1962/gwyb196212.pdf |script-title=zh:国务院总理周恩来就中印边界問題致亚非国家領导人的信 |language=zh |date=15 November 1962 |access-date=30 December 2019 |author=[[Zhou Enlai]] (Chou En-Lai) |quote={{lang|zh-hans|在西段,印度政府提出爭議的传统习惯綫以东和以北的地区,历来是屬于中国的。这个地区主要包括中国新疆所屬的阿克賽欽地区和西藏阿里地区的一部分,面积共为三万三千平方公里,相当于一个比利时或三个黎巴嫩。这个地区虽然人烟稀少,却历来是联結新疆和西藏阿里的交通命脉。新疆的柯尔克孜族和維吾尔族的牧民經常在这一带放牧。阿克賽欽这个地名就是維吾尔語“中国的白石滩”的意思。这块地方一直到現在是在中国的管轄之下。}} |page=228 |via={{lang|zh-hans|[[:zh:中华人民共和国中央人民政府门户网站|中华人民共和国中央人民政府门户网站]]}} |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613165705/http://www.gov.cn/gongbao/shuju/1962/gwyb196212.pdf |archive-date=13 June 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> and Indian sources.<ref name="Kler1995">{{cite book |author=Gurdip Singh Kler |title=Unsung Battles of 1962 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hciHTVUILb4C&pg=PA156 |year=1995 |publisher=Lancer Publishers |isbn=978-1-897829-09-7 |page=156 |quote=Aksai Chin - the name, means the desert of white stones.}}</ref><ref name="Bhasin2006">{{cite book |author=Sanjeev Kumar Bhasin |title=Amazing Land Ladakh: Places, People, and Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8IZloNzI8BgC&pg=PA61 |year=2006 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-186-3 |page=61 |quote=The Aksai Chin (desert of white stones)}}</ref> Some modern sources interpret it to mean "white brook" instead.<ref name="Butalia2015">{{cite book |author=Bob Butalia |title=In the Shadow of Destiny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CKrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT271 |date=30 September 2015 |publisher=Partridge Publishing India |isbn=978-1-4828-5791-7 |page=271 |quote='Aksai Chin' in translation means 'White Brook Pass'.}}</ref><ref name="Kochhar2018">{{cite book |author=Geeta Kochhar |title=China's Foreign Relations and Security Dimensions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xZSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT40 |date=19 March 2018 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-429-01748-3 |pages=40– |quote=The etymology of Aksai Chin is uncertain. Although 'Aksai' is a Turk term for 'white brooks', it is widely believed that the word 'chin' has nothing to do with China.}}</ref> At least one source interprets ''Aksai'' to mean "eastern" in the [[Uyghur dialects|Yarkandi Uyghur dialect]].<ref name="Kapadia2002">{{cite book |author=Harish Kapadia |title=High Himalaya Unknown Valleys |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNhJXSjSk70C&pg=PA309 |date=March 2002 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-117-7 |page=309 |quote=Aksai Chin, (Aksai: eastern, Chin: China) ... Most of the names were found to be distinctly Yarkandi.}}</ref>

The word "Chin" was taken to mean "[[Names of China#Names in non-Chinese records|China]]" by some Chinese,<ref name="cihai"/><ref name="gongbao"/><ref name="rfa">{{cite web |url=https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/obzor/obzor-sidik-06222010191805.html |title=ئاقساي چىنمۇ ياكى ئاقساي چۆلمۇ؟ |date=22 June 2010 |access-date=18 January 2020 |publisher=[[Radio Free Asia]] |language=ug |quote=ماقالە يازغۇچى داۋاملاشتۇرۇپ: بۇ تېررىتورىيىنىڭ نامى تۈرك تىلىدا، "ئاقساي چىن " دېيىلىدۇ، بۇ ئىسىمدىكى "چىن" سۆزى جۇڭگونى كۆرسىتىدۇ، ئېيتىشلارغا ئاساسلانغاندا، بۇ سۆزنىڭ مەنىسى – " جۇڭگونىڭ ئاق تاشلىق جىلغىسى ياكى جۇڭگونىڭ ئاق تاشلىق سېيى" دېگەنلىك بولىدۇ دەيدۇ. [The author goes on to say that the name of the territory is in Turkish, "Aksai Chin", and the word "Chin" in that name means China, and it is said that the word means "White Valley of China or China's White River".] |trans-title=Is Aksai True or Aksai Desert? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100905212401/http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/obzor/obzor-sidik-06222010191805.html |archive-date=5 September 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> Western,<ref name="british_india_1862" /><ref name="HedinAmbolt1967"/> and Indian sources.<ref name="Kapadia2002"/> At least one source takes it to mean "pass".<ref name="Butalia2015"/> Other sources omit "Chin" in their interpretations.<ref name="asiatic_society"/><ref name="Kaminsky"/><ref name="naval_war_college"/><ref name="Lintner2018"/><ref name="Kler1995"/><ref name="Bhasin2006"/> Van Driem states that there is no Uyghur word resembling "chin" for China.<ref name="van Driem"/>

Amin's Aksai Chin was not a defined region, stretching indefinitely east into Tibet south of the [[Kunlun Mountains]].<ref>{{harvp|Mehra, An "agreed" frontier|1992|p=79}}:
"The name 'Aksai Chin' occurred on a map captioned 'Rough sketch of caravan routes through the Pamir steppes and Yarkand, from information collected' from Mahomed Ameen Yarkandi [Mohammed Amin], 'late guide' to the well-known Schlagintweit brothers. This was compiled in the Quartermaster-General's office in 1862. The sketch, which offered no details this side of the Kunlun, had 'Aksai Chin' written right across the blank space south of the Kunlun range. Mahomed Ameen had noted that 'beyond the pass (north of the Chang Chenmo) lies the Aksai Chin. ... it extends to Chinese territory to the East.'"
</ref><ref>
{{citation |last=Brescius |first=Moritz von |title=German Science in the Age of Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4lqHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 |year=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-42732-6 |pages=197–199 (including Map 5.2: 'Rough Sketch of Caravan Routes through the Pamir Steppes and Yarkund, from Information Collected from Mahomed Ameen Yarkundi, Late Guide to Messrs. De Schlagintweit')}}
</ref> In 1895, the British envoy to [[Kashgar]] told the Chinese Taotai that Aksai Chin was a "loose name for an ill-defined, elevated tableland", part of which lay in Indian and part in Chinese territory.{{sfnp|Mehra, An "agreed" frontier|1992|p=11}} 

The current meaning of the term is the area under dispute between India and China, having evolved in repeated usage since Indian independence in 1947.

==History==
{{See also|Origins of the Sino-Indian border dispute}}
[[File:Jammu and Kashmir in 1888 Survey of India map.jpg|thumb|280px|Boundary of Kashmir in the 1888 [[Survey of India]] map of India. The undefined boundary shown in dashed line runs through [[Malubiting]], [[Raskam]], [[Aktagh]] and the [[Karakash River|Karakash River bend]].]]
Because of its {{convert|5000|m|adj=on}} elevation, the desolation of Aksai Chin meant that it had no human importance.<ref name="Neville_Maxwell">{{cite book |title=India's China War |last=Maxwell |first=Neville |author-link=Neville Maxwell |year=1970 |publisher=Pantheon |location=New York |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/12249475/Indias-China-War-Neville-Maxwell |page=3 |quote=At 17,000 feet elevation, the desolation of Aksai Chin had no human importance other than an ancient trade route that crossed over it, providing a brief pass during summer for caravans of yaks from Sinkiang to Tibet that carried silk, jade, hemp, salt |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101121143/http://www.scribd.com/doc/12249475/Indias-China-War-Neville-Maxwell |archive-date=1 November 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, for military purposes the region was strategically important, as it lay on the only year-round passable route between the [[Tarim Basin]] and Tibet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gaver|first1=John W.|title=Protracted Contest: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Twentieth Century|date=2011|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0295801209|page=83|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TOVaMckcO0MC&pg=PA83| access-date = 4 January 2020|quote= The westerly route via Aksai Chin was an old caravan route and in many ways the best. It was the only route that was open year-round, throughout both the winter and the monsoon season. The Dzungar army that had reached Lhasa in 1717 ... had followed this route.}}</ref>

[[Ladakh]] was conquered in 1842 by the armies of Raja [[Gulab Singh]] (Dogra) under the suzerainty of the [[Sikh Empire]].{{sfn|Maxwell, India's China War|1970|p=24}}<ref name="Rubin">The Sino-Indian Border Disputes, by Alfred P. Rubin, The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1. (Jan. 1960), pp. 96–125, {{JSTOR|756256}}.</ref> The [[First Anglo-Sikh War|British defeat of the Sikhs in 1846]] resulted in the transfer of the [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] region including Ladakh to the British, who then installed Gulab Singh as the Maharaja under their suzerainty. The British appointed a boundary commission headed by Alexander Cunningham to determine the boundaries of the state. Chinese and Tibetan officials were invited to jointly demarcate the border, but they did not show any interest.{{sfn|Maxwell, India's China War|1970|p=25–26}} The British boundary commissioners fixed the southern part of the boundary up to the [[Chang Chenmo Valley]], but regarded the area north of it as ''terra incognita''.{{sfn|Maxwell, India's China War|1970|p=26}}

=== The Johnson Line ===
{{main|Johnson Line (boundary)}}
[[File:Hindutagh-pass-aksai-chin-center2-1873.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Map of [[Central Asia]] (1873) by [[Thomas Douglas Forsyth|T. Douglas Forsyth]]. The border claimed by the British for [[British Raj|India]] is shown in the two-toned purple and pink band with [[Shahidulla]] and the Kilik, Kilian and [[Sanju Pass|Sanju]] passes north of the border.]]
[[William Johnson (surveyor)|William Johnson]], a civil servant with the [[Survey of India]] proposed the "Johnson Line" in 1865, which put Aksai Chin in Kashmir. This was the time of the [[Dungan revolt (1862–1877)|Dungan revolt]], when China did not control most of [[Xinjiang]], so this line was never presented to the Chinese. Johnson presented this line to the Maharaja of Kashmir, who then claimed the 18,000 square kilometres contained within,<ref name="Guruswamy">Mohan Guruswamy, Mohan, [http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jun/20spec.htm "The Great India-China Game"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160930222001/http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jun/20spec.htm |date=30 September 2016 }}, [[Rediff.com|Rediff]], 23 June 2003.</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2019|reason=See [[Talk:Sino-Indian War#Sources]]}} and by some accounts territory further north as far as the [[Sanju Pass]] in the [[Kun Lun Mountains]]. The Maharajah of Kashmir constructed a fort at Shahidulla (modern-day [[Xaidulla]]), and had troops stationed there for some years to protect caravans.{{sfn|Woodman|1969|pp=101, 360ff}} Eventually, most sources placed Shahidulla and the upper [[Karakash River]] firmly within the territory of Xinjiang (see accompanying map).{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} According to [[Francis Younghusband]], who explored the region in the late 1880s, there was only an abandoned fort and not one inhabited house at Shahidulla when he was there – it was just a convenient staging post and a convenient headquarters for the nomadic [[Kyrgyz people|Kirghiz]].<ref>Younghusband, Francis E. (1896). ''The Heart of a Continent''. John Murray, London. Facsimile reprint: (2005) Elbiron Classics, pp. 223–224.</ref>{{primary-source-inline|date=October 2019}} The abandoned fort had apparently been built a few years earlier by the Kashmiris.<ref>Grenard, Fernand (1904). ''Tibet: The Country and its Inhabitants''. Fernand Grenard. Translated by A. Teixeira de Mattos. Originally published by Hutchison and Co., London. 1904. Reprint: Cosmo Publications. Delhi. 1974, pp. 28–30.</ref>{{primary-source-inline|date=October 2019}} In 1878 the Chinese had [[Qing reconquest of Xinjiang|reconquered Xinjiang]], and by 1890 they already had Shahidulla before the issue was decided.<ref name="Guruswamy"/>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2019|reason=See [[Talk:Sino-Indian War#Sources]]}} By 1892, China had erected boundary markers at [[Karakoram Pass]].<ref name="Calvin">{{cite web|last=Calvin|first=James Barnard|date=April 1984|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/CJB.htm|title=The China-India Border War|publisher=Marine Corps Command and Staff College|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|url-status=}}</ref>

In 1897, a British military officer, [[John Charles Ardagh|Sir John Ardagh]], proposed a boundary line along the crest of the [[Kun Lun Mountains]] north of the [[Yarkand River]].{{sfn|Woodman|1969|pp=101, 360ff}} At that time, Britain was concerned about the danger of Russian expansion as China weakened, and Ardagh argued that his line was more defensible. The Ardagh line was effectively a modification of the Johnson line, and became known as the "Johnson-Ardagh Line".

=== The Macartney–Macdonald Line ===

{{main|Macartney–MacDonald Line}}

[[File:Hung Ta-Chen's Map.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The map given by Hung Ta-chen to the British consul at Kashgar in 1893. The boundary, marked with a thin dot-dashed line, matches the Johnson line.{{sfn|Woodman|1969|pp=73, 78}}<sup>:pp. 73,&nbsp;78</sup>]]
In 1893, Hung Ta-chen, a senior Chinese official at [[St. Petersburg]], gave maps of the region to [[George Macartney (British consul)|George Macartney]], the British consul general at Kashgar, which coincided in broad details.{{sfn|Woodman|1969|pp=73, 78}} In 1899, Britain proposed a revised boundary, initially suggested by Macartney and developed by the Governor General of India [[Lord Elgin]]. This boundary placed the Lingzi Tang plains, which are south of the Laktsang range, in India, and Aksai Chin proper, which is north of the Laktsang range, in China. This border, along the [[Karakoram Mountain]]s, was proposed and supported by British officials for a number of reasons. The Karakoram Mountains formed a natural boundary, which would set the British borders up to the [[Indus River]] [[Water divide|watershed]] while leaving the [[Tarim River]] watershed in Chinese control, and Chinese control of this tract would present a further obstacle to Russian advance in Central Asia.<ref name="Noorani">{{Citation | last=Noorani | first=A.G. | date=30 August – 12 September 2003 | title=Fact of History | magazine=Frontline | volume=26 | issue=18 | publisher=The Hindu group | location=Madras | access-date=24 August 2011 | url=http://frontlineonnet.com/fl2018/stories/20030912002104800.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002095213/http://frontlineonnet.com/fl2018/stories/20030912002104800.htm | archive-date=2 October 2011 | url-status=dead}}</ref> The British presented this line, known as the [[Macartney–MacDonald Line]], to the Chinese in 1899 in a note by Sir [[Claude Maxwell MacDonald|Claude MacDonald]]. The Qing government did not respond to the note.{{sfn|Woodman|1969|p=102|ps=: The proposed boundary seems never to have been considered in the same form again until Alastair Lamb revived it in 1964}} According to some commentators, China believed that this had been the accepted boundary.<ref name=middlepath>{{cite journal|last1=Verma|first1=Virendra Sahai|year=2006|title=Sino-Indian Border Dispute at Aksai Chin – A Middle Path For Resolution|journal=Journal of Development Alternatives and Area Studies|volume=25|issue=3|pages=6–8|issn=1651-9728}}</ref>

=== 1899 to 1947 ===
Both the Johnson-Ardagh and the Macartney-MacDonald lines were used on British maps of India.<ref name="Guruswamy"/>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2019|reason=See [[Talk:Sino-Indian War#Sources]]}} Until at least 1908, the British took the Macdonald line to be the boundary,{{sfn|Woodman|1969|p=79}} but in 1911, the [[Xinhai Revolution]] resulted in the collapse of central power in China, and by the end of [[World War I]], the British officially used the Johnson Line. However they took no steps to establish outposts or assert actual control on the ground.<ref name="Calvin"/> In 1927, the line was adjusted again as the government of British India abandoned the Johnson line in favor of a line along the Karakoram range further south.<ref name="Calvin"/> However, the maps were not updated and still showed the Johnson Line.<ref name="Calvin"/>
[[File:Postal Map of China ,1917.jpg|thumb|upright|Postal map of China published by the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] in 1917. The boundary in Aksai Chin is as per the Johnson line.|alt=]]
From 1917 to 1933, the ''Postal Atlas of China'', published by the Government of China in Peking had shown the boundary in Aksai Chin as per the Johnson line, which runs along the [[Kunlun Mountains]].{{sfn|Woodman|1969|pp=73, 78}}<ref name=middlepath /> The ''Peking University Atlas'', published in 1925, also put the Aksai Chin in India.<ref name="HimalayanBground">{{cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=Margaret W.|last2=Rose|first2=Leo E.|last3=Huttenback|first3=Robert A.|title=Himalayan Battleground: Sino-Indian Rivalry in Ladakh|date=1963|publisher=Praeger|page=101|url=https://www.questia.com/read/10466588|url-access=|via=|isbn=|access-date=24 August 2017|archive-date=30 September 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140930113800/http://www.questia.com/read/10466588|url-status=dead}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> When British officials learned of Soviet officials surveying the Aksai Chin for [[Sheng Shicai|Sheng Shih-tsai]], warlord of [[Xinjiang]] in 1940–1941, they again advocated the Johnson Line. At this point the British had still made no attempts to establish outposts or control over the Aksai Chin, nor was the issue ever discussed with the governments of China or Tibet, and the boundary remained undemarcated at India's independence.<ref name="Calvin"/><ref name="Orton p. 24">{{cite book | last=Orton | first=Anna | title=India's Borderland Disputes: China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal | publisher=Epitome Books | isbn=978-93-80297-25-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vcwkEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 | page=24}}</ref>

=== Since 1947 ===
[[File:Txu-oclc-6654394-ni-44-3rd-ed.jpg|left|thumb|Map including the Aksai Chin region ([[Army Map Service|AMS]], 1950)]]
After [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] [[Instrument of Accession|acceded]] to the newly independent India in October 1947, the government of India used the Johnson Line as the basis for its official boundary in the west, which included the Aksai Chin.<ref name="Calvin"/> From the Karakoram Pass (which is not under dispute), the Indian claim line extends northeast of the Karakoram Mountains through the salt flats of the Aksai Chin, to set a boundary at the [[Kunlun Mountains]], and incorporating part of the [[Karakash River]] and [[Yarkand River]] watersheds. From there, it runs east along the Kunlun Mountains, before turning southwest through the Aksai Chin salt flats, through the Karakoram Mountains, and then to [[Panggong Lake]].<ref name="Neville_Maxwell"/>

On 1 July 1954, Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] wrote a memo directing that the maps of India be revised to show definite boundaries on all frontiers. Up to this point, the boundary in the Aksai Chin sector, based on the Johnson Line, had been described as "undemarcated."<ref name="Noorani"/>

[[File:Aksai Chin Sino-Indian border map.svg|thumb|right|upright|Map showing Chinese and Indian claims over Aksai Chin, the Macartney-MacDonald line, the Foreign Office Line, as well as the progress of Chinese forces as they occupied areas during the Sino-Indian War]]

Despite this region being nearly uninhabitable and having no resources, it remains strategically important for China as it connects Tibet and Xinjiang. During the 1950s, the [[China|People's Republic of China]] built a 1,200&nbsp;km (750&nbsp;mi) [[China National Highway 219]] connecting Xinjiang and western [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]], of which 179&nbsp;km (112&nbsp;mi) ran south of the Johnson Line through the Aksai Chin region claimed by India.<ref name="Neville_Maxwell"/><ref name="Calvin"/> Aksai Chin was easily accessible to the Chinese, but was more difficult for the Indians on the other side of the Karakorams to reach.<ref name="Neville_Maxwell"/> The Indians did not learn of the existence of the road until 1957, which was confirmed when the road was shown in Chinese maps published in 1958.<ref name="Garver">[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~johnston/garver.pdf China's Decision for War with India in 1962 by John W. Garver] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326032121/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~johnston/garver.pdf |date=26 March 2009 }}</ref> The construction of this highway was one of the triggers for the [[Sino-Indian War]] of 1962.<ref>{{cite book |last=Guo |first=Rongxing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z5Le627xQLgC&pg=PA43 |title=Territorial Disputes and Resource Management |date=2007 |publisher=Nova Science Publishers |isbn=978-1-60021-445-5 |page=43 |access-date=2019-06-10}}</ref>

The Indian position, as stated by Prime Minister Nehru, was that the Aksai Chin was "part of the Ladakh region of India for centuries" and that this northern border was a "firm and definite one which was not open to discussion with anybody".<ref name="Neville_Maxwell"/>

The Chinese premier [[Zhou Enlai]] argued that the western border had never been delimited, that the Macartney-MacDonald Line, which left the Aksai Chin within Chinese borders was the only line ever proposed to a Chinese government, and that the Aksai Chin was already under Chinese jurisdiction, and that negotiations should take into account the status quo.<ref name="Neville_Maxwell"/>

In June 2006, [[satellite imagery]] on the [[Google Earth]] service revealed a 1:500<ref name="age" /> scale terrain model of eastern Aksai Chin and adjacent [[Tibet]], built near the town of [[Huangyangtan]], about {{convert|35|km}} southwest of [[Yinchuan]], the capital of the autonomous region of [[Ningxia]] in China.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/from-sky-see-how-china-builds-model-of-indian-border-2400-km-away/9972/|title=From sky, see how China builds model of Indian border 2400 km away|date=5 August 2006|access-date=8 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102182326/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/from-sky-see-how-china-builds-model-of-indian-border-2400-km-away/9972|archive-date=2 January 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> A visual side-by-side comparison shows a very detailed duplication of Aksai Chin in the camp.<ref>[http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/859782/page/0/vc/1 Google Earth Community posting] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208110436/http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/859782/page/0/vc/1 |date=8 December 2008 }}, 10 April 2007</ref> The {{convert|900|x|700|m|abbr=on}}{{Citation needed|reason=source "age" claims 3&nbsp;km!|date=July 2009}} model was surrounded by a substantial facility, with rows of red-roofed buildings, scores of olive-coloured trucks and a large compound with elevated lookout posts and a large communications tower. Such terrain models are known to be used in military training and simulation, although usually on a much smaller scale.

Local authorities in [[Ningxia]] claim that their model of Aksai Chin is part of a tank training ground, built in 1998 or 1999.<ref name="age">{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/chinese-xfile-not-so-mysterious-after-all/2006/07/23/1153593217781.html|title=Chinese X-file not so mysterious after all|date=2006-07-23|newspaper=[[The Age]]|access-date=2008-12-17 | location=Melbourne| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090113185611/http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/chinese-xfile-not-so-mysterious-after-all/2006/07/23/1153593217781.html| archive-date= 13 January 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref>

In August 2017, Indian and Chinese forces near [[Pangong Tso]] threw rocks at each other.<ref name="hket"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/india-china-conflict-in-ladakh-the-importance-of-the-pangong-tso-lake-6419377/|title=India-China conflict in Ladakh: The importance of the Pangong Tso lake|date=20 May 2020|access-date=21 May 2020|website=[[The Indian Express]]|author=Sushant Singh}}</ref>

On 11 September 2019, [[People's Liberation Army]] troops confronted Indian troops on the northern bank of [[Pangong Tso|Pangong Lake]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/indian-chinese-troops-face-off-in-ladakh-month-ahead-of-modi-xi-jinping-summit-2305615.html|title=Indian, Chinese Troops Face-off in Ladakh Ahead of Modi-Xi Summit, Army Says Tension De-escalated|date=12 September 2019|access-date=12 May 2020|work=[[News18]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107231903/https://www.news18.com/news/india/indian-chinese-troops-face-off-in-ladakh-month-ahead-of-modi-xi-jinping-summit-2305615.html|archive-date=7 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rti.org.tw/news/view/id/2054821|script-title=zh:中國在西藏地區軍演頻繁 牽動中印未來危機應對|date=10 March 2020|access-date=16 May 2020|language=zh-tw|editor=Chang Ya-Han {{lang|zh-tw|張雅涵}}|work=[[Radio Taiwan International]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311153414/https://www.rti.org.tw/news/view/id/2054821|archive-date=11 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

A continued face-off in the [[2020 China–India skirmishes]] of May and June 2020 between Indian and Chinese troops near Pangong Tso Lake culminated in a violent clash on 16 June 2020, with at least 20 deaths from the Indian side and no official reported deaths from the Chinese side. In 2021, Chinese state media reported 4 Chinese deaths.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-02-19 |title=Ladakh: China reveals soldier deaths in India border clash |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56121781 |access-date=2022-02-26}}</ref> Both sides claimed provocation from the other.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-china-border-tensions-live-updates-at-least-20-indian-soldiers-killed-in-violent-face-off-with-china/liveblog/76396873.cms|title = India China news live: At least 20 Indian Army personnel killed in violent face-off in Ladakh's Galwan Valley|website = [[The Times of India]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/indian-chinese-troops-face-off-in-eastern-ladakh-sikkim/article31548893.ece|title=Indian, Chinese troops face off in Eastern Ladakh, Sikkim|work=[[The Hindu]]|author=Dinakar Peri|date=10 May 2020|access-date=13 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512053057/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/indian-chinese-troops-face-off-in-eastern-ladakh-sikkim/article31548893.ece|archive-date=12 May 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="hket">{{cite web|url=https://china.hket.com/article/2639292/中印邊境再爆衝突%20%20150士兵毆鬥釀12傷|script-title=zh:中印邊境再爆衝突 150士兵毆鬥釀12傷|language=zh-hant|date=11 May 2020|access-date=16 May 2020|work=[[Hong Kong Economic Times]]|author={{lang|zh-hant|費風}}|quote={{lang|zh-hant|消息指，第一起事件發生於5月5日至6日，在中印邊境的班公錯湖（Pangong Tso ）地區，當時解放軍的「侵略性巡邏」（aggressive patrolling）被印度軍方阻攔。「結果發生了混亂，雙方都有一些士兵受傷。」{...}2017年8月，兩國軍隊曾於拉達克地區班公湖附近爆發衝突，當時雙方擲石攻擊對方，雙方均有人受傷，最終兩軍在半小時後退回各自據點。}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/chinese-military-bolsters-troops-in-aksai-chin-region-in-sino-india-border-report/articleshow/75810930.cms|title=Chinese military bolsters troops in Aksai Chin region in Sino-India border: Report|date=19 May 2020|access-date=19 May 2020|work=[[The Economic Times]]|quote=On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed in Pangong Tso lake area in Eastern Ladakh.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519125336/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/chinese-military-bolsters-troops-in-aksai-chin-region-in-sino-india-border-report/articleshow/75810930.cms|archive-date=19 May 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3940166|title=Chinese, Indian troops engage in border conflicts|date=25 May 2020|access-date=26 May 2020|website=[[Taiwan News]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/india-southchinasea-05222020182130.html|title=India Voices Unusual Criticism of China's Conduct in South China Sea|date=22 May 2020|access-date=27 May 2020|work=[[Radio Free Asia]]|author=Drake Long|quote=Chinese and Indian troops clashed on May 5 over road construction the Indian side was completing at Pangong Tso, a glacial lake bordering Ladakh and Tibet.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mea.gov.in/media-briefings.htm?dtl/32699/Transcript_of_Media_Briefing_by_Official_Spokesperson_May_21_2020|title=Transcript of Media Briefing by Official Spokesperson (May 21, 2020)|date=21 May 2020|access-date=27 May 2020|work=[[Ministry of External Affairs (India)|Ministry of External Affairs]]}}</ref>

==Geography==
{{see also|List of locations in Aksai Chin}}
[[File:China India western border 88.jpg|left|thumb|upright|A 1988 [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-made topographical map of the western China-India border, showing Aksai Chin and other contested territories]]
[[File:Tarimrivermap.png|thumb|2008 map of the Tarim River Basin]]
[[File:Northern Aksai Chin looking towards Qitai Daban.jpg|thumb|Northern plains of Aksai Chin looking towards Qitai Daban (Khitai Dawan)]]
[[File:Aksai Chin high altitude plateau.jpg|thumb|A view of Aksai Chin]]
Aksai Chin is one of the two large disputed border areas between India and China. India claims Aksai Chin as the easternmost part of the union territory of [[Ladakh]]. China claims that Aksai Chin is part of the [[Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]] and [[Tibet Autonomous Region]]. The line that separates Indian-administered areas of [[Ladakh]] from Aksai Chin is known as the [[Line of Actual Control]] (LAC) and is concurrent with the Chinese Aksai Chin claim line.

The Aksai region is a [[List of locations in Aksai Chin|sparsely populated region]] with few settlements such as [[Heweitan]], [[Khurnak Fort]], [[Tianshuihai]] and [[Dahongliutan]] and [[Kangxiwar]] which lays north of it, with the latter being the forward headquarters of the Xinjiang Military Command during the [[Sino-Indian War|1962 Sino-Indian War]].

Aksai Chin covers an area of approximately {{convert|38000|km2|mi2}}.<ref name=area>{{Cite encyclopedia| year = 2013| encyclopedia = [[Britannica]]| title = Aksai Chin| url= https://www.britannica.com/place/Aksai-Chin| access-date=11 June 2021|quote = At the conclusion of the conflict, China retained control of about 14,700 square miles (38,000 square km) of territory in Aksai Chin.}}</ref> The area is largely a vast high-altitude [[desert]] with a low point (on the ''[[Karakash River]]'') at about {{convert|4300|m|abbr=on}} above sea level. In the southwest, mountains up to {{convert|7000|m|abbr=on}} extending southeast from the [[Depsang Plains]] form the ''de facto'' border (Line of Actual Control) between Aksai Chin and Indian-controlled Kashmir.

In the north, the [[Kunlun Mountains|Kunlun Range]] separates Aksai Chin from the [[Tarim Basin]], where the rest of [[Hotan Prefecture]] is situated. {{As of|2008}}, no roads crossed the Kunlun Range within Hotan Prefecture, and only one track does so, over the [[Hindutash]] Pass.<ref name=xuar>Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Road Atlas (中国分省公路丛书：新疆维吾尔自治区), published by 星球地图出版社 ''Xingqiu Ditu Chubanshe'', 2008, {{ISBN|978-7-80212-469-1}}. Map of Hotan Prefecture, pp. 18–19.</ref>

Aksai Chin area has number of [[endorheic basin]]s with many salt or [[soda lake]]s. The major salt lakes are [[Surigh Yilganing Kol]], [[Tso Tang]], [[Aksai Chin Lake]], [[Hongshan Lake]], etc. Much of the northern part of Aksai Chin is referred to as the Soda Plains, located near Aksai Chin's largest river, the Karakash, which receives meltwater from a number of glaciers, crosses the Kunlun farther northwest, in [[Hekang County]] and enters the Tarim Basin, where it serves as one of the main sources of water for [[Karakax County|Karakax]] and [[Hotan County|Hotan]] Counties.

The western part of Aksai Chin region is drained by the Tarim River. The eastern part of the region contains several small [[endorheic]] basins. The largest of them is that of the [[Aksai Chin Lake]], which is fed by the river of the same name. The region as a whole receives little precipitation as the [[Himalayas]] and the [[Karakoram Range|Karakoram]] block the rains from the Indian [[monsoon]].

The nearby [[Trans-Karakoram Tract]] is also the subject of ongoing dispute between China and India in the [[Kashmir dispute]].<ref name=Time>{{cite magazine |url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870184,00.html |title =Signing with the Red Chinese |magazine =[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date =15 March 1963 |access-date =28 October 2019 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20130824040920/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870184,00.html |archive-date =24 August 2013 |url-status =dead }}</ref><ref name="Neville_Maxwell"/>

==Demographics and economics==
Prior to 1950, the visitors of Aksai Chin were, for the most part, the occasional explorers, hunters, and nomads who passed through the area.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2riICwAAQBAJ&q=nomads+aksai+chin&pg=PT156|title=India, China and Sub-regional Connectivities in South Asia|last1=Chandran|first1=D. Suba|last2=Singh|first2=Bhavna|date=2015-10-21|publisher=SAGE Publications India|isbn=9789351503262}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Indian Foreign Policy and the Border Dispute with China|author=W.F. Van Eekelen|date=11 December 2013|publisher=Springer|access-date=13 December 2019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eTzBwAAQBAJ&q=the+occasional+explorer,+big-game+hunter&pg=PA164|quote=Neither party exercised a great extent of administration in Aksai Chin, but the occasional explorer, big-game hunter or nomad from India may be sufficient to establish continuity of title.|isbn=9789401765558}}</ref><ref name="Hoffmann2018">{{cite book|author=Steven A. Hoffmann|title=India and the China Crisis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bjADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12|date=20 April 2018|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-30172-6|page=12|quote=There was jade mining from the Sinkiang side, and some ancient (if secondary) trade routes crossed it. But that was all}}</ref><ref name="Lamb 1964">{{cite book | last=Lamb | first=Alastair | title=The China-India Border: The Origins of the Disputed Boundaries | publisher=Oxford University Press | series=Chatham House Online Archive | year=1964 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GfgNAQAAMAAJ | quote =From 1927 to 1950, of course, Aksai Chin was a region of absolutely absolutely no importance. [...] no one visited it except the occasional explorer, big-game hunter and nomad.| page=112}}</ref>

Prior to European exploration in the 1860s, there were some jade mining operations on the Xinjiang side of Aksai Chin.<ref name="Hoffmann2018"/><ref name="Shaw1871">{{cite book|author=Robert Shaw|title=Visits to High Tartary, Yârkand, and Kâshgar (formerly Chinese Tartary): And Return Journey Over the Karakoram Pass|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QHpCAAAAIAAJ|year=1871|publisher=J. Murray|page=98|quote=[Oct 29] beginning of the soda-plain [Oct 30] Karakash River [Nov 3] At a corner on the south side there is a piece of path with a bit of wall built up to support it, and yesterday we passed a group of stone huts: all signs that this road was once in use. (We found afterwards that this valley had formerly been frequented by the Chinese, who objected jade from hence. This industry is now extinct, as the Mussulmans of Tookistan have no taste for ornaments of this stone.) [Nov 5] plains full of salt craters}}</ref> They were abandoned by the time European explorers reached the area.<ref name="Shaw1871"/> In the 1860s to 1870s, in order to facilitate trade between the [[Indian subcontinent]] and [[Tarim Basin]], the British attempted to promote a caravan route via the western side of Aksai Chin as an alternative to the difficult and tariffed [[Karakoram Pass]].<ref name="Kohli2000">{{cite book|author=Harish Kohli|title=Across the Frozen Himalaya: The Epic Winter Ski Traverse from Karakoram to Lipu Lekh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RJK0A1pZHt8C&pg=PA87|year=2000|publisher=Indus Publishing|isbn=978-81-7387-106-1|pages=86–87|quote=the five difficult passes through the Karakorams posed a barrier ... Cayley reconnoitred a route that went through the Changchenmo ranges ... if anything these new passes were higher than the ones they replaced, and the land in between them was also higher. ... The route had another advantage in that trade from British India could flow through Kulu via Changchenmo to Yarkand, completely bypassing the customs officials of the Maharaja at Leh.}}</ref> The route, referred to as the Chang Chenmo line after the starting point in [[Chang Chenmo River]] valley, was discussed in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] in 1874.<ref name="house_of_commons_paper">{{cite book|title=Accounts and Papers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IStcAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA5-PA25|series=East India|volume=XLIX|date=1874|publisher=House of Commons, British Parliament|pages=23–33|quote=(p26) The Changchenmo line ... The extra distance and the sojourn for 5 days longer in such a desolate tract (p33) Every endeavour has been made to improve the Changchenmo route—serais having been built at some places, and depots of grain established as far as Gogra}}</ref> In addition of being longer and higher elevation than Karakoram Pass, it also goes through the desolate desert of Aksai Chin.<ref name="Kohli2000"/><ref name="house_of_commons_paper" /> By 1890s, traders had mostly given up on this route.<ref name="Ward1896">{{cite book|author=A. E. Ward|title=The Tourist's And—sportsman's Guide to Kashmir and Ladak, &c|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3opNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA106|year=1896|publisher=Thacker, Spink|pages=106–107|quote=Joining the left bank of the river opposite to Kyam are the Silung Yokma, Silung Burma and Silung Kongma. ... cross the Changchenmo valley journey up the Kiepsang stream ... The traders have now almost entirely given up the Changchenmo-Shahidula route to Yarkand.}}</ref>

In the 1958, India collected salt from various lakes in Aksai Chin to study the economic feasibility of [[Brine mining|salt mining]] operations in the area.<ref name="VSM2015">{{cite book|author=Brig Amar Cheema, VSM|title=The Crimson Chinar: The Kashmir Conflict: A Politico Military Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qc25BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA157|date=31 March 2015|publisher=Lancer Publishers|isbn=978-81-7062-301-4|pages=157–158|quote=...though neither side had any physical presence there. The advantage India had was that she administered the grazing grounds and even collected salt from Amtogor Lake, deep in Aksai Chin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (India)|title=Technical Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHY9AQAAIAAJ|year=1958|page=127|quote=Brines from (i) Pong Kong, (ii) Sarigh Jilgang Kol and (iii) Amtogor lakes were examined for their suitability for salt manufacture. The brines from the first two sources have been found to be uneconomical for salt manufacture.}}</ref>

[[File:甜水海兵站.jpg|thumb|Sign of a [[People's Liberation Army Ground Force|PLAGF]] service station in [[Tianshuihai]], Aksai Chin]]

By the end of the 1950s, in addition to having constructed a road, numerous [[PLA Ground Force]] outposts were constructed in a few locations, including at [[Tianwendian]],<ref name="news18">{{cite web|url=http://www.news18.com/news/india/indian-chinese-armies-decide-to-improve-ties-at-functional-level-1184462.html|title=Indian, Chinese armies decide to improve ties at functional level|website=[[News18]]|date=2 January 2016|access-date=2017-09-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214060336/https://www.news18.com/news/india/indian-chinese-armies-decide-to-improve-ties-at-functional-level-1184462.html|archive-date=14 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Kongka Pass]],<ref>{{Cite web| title = 在海拔5070米的空喀山口哨卡某边防团政委宗建明和官兵深情的拥抱|trans-title=Zong Jianming, political commissar of a border defense regiment, and the officers and soldiers at the empty Kazan checkpoint at an altitude of 5,070 meters affectionately embrace|work=[[Sina Corp|Sina]] Military|date=17 September 2009|access-date=14 December 2019 |url=http://slide.mil.news.sina.com.cn/slide_8_199_1262.html#p=5| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191214073405/http://slide.mil.news.sina.com.cn/slide_8_199_1262.html#p=5|archive-date=14 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Heweitan]]<ref name="chin_Keep">{{Cite web| title = Keeping watch over highest mountain| author = 颜玮珏| editor = 马丹宁| publisher = [[China Daily]]| date = 30 September 2013| access-date = 29 December 2019| url = http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2013-09/30/content_17004862_2.htm| quote = Soldiers pose for a picture at the Heweitan sentry post on Karakorum Mountains in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Sept 30.| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191229145315/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2013-09/30/content_17004862_2.htm| archive-date = 29 December 2019| url-status = live}}</ref> and [[Tianshuihai]].<ref name="army">{{Cite web| title = 走进天路兵站甜水海 体会官兵生活的苦与乐| trans-title = Enter the army outpost Tianshuihai on the skyward road, experience the hardship and joy of army life| author1 = 陈金财| author2 = 徐俊| editor1 = 杜麒麟| editor2 = 孙和静| work = 中国陆军网| trans-work = China Army Net| publisher = People's Liberation Army News and Dissemination Center| date = 7 December 2016| access-date = 13 December 2019| url = http://army.81.cn/content/2016-12/07/content_7396296.htm| language = zh| quote = 从1959年建站起，兵站所有的生活用水，都要到90公里外的“死人沟”泉水湖去拉，来回一趟至少6个小时，如果到了冬季，还得破冰取水。[Since the establishment of the station in 1959, all domestic water in the military depot has to be pulled from the "Deadrengou" spring lake 90 kilometers away. It takes at least six hours to go back and forth. If it is winter, the ice must be broken for water.]| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191213201705/http://army.81.cn/content/2016-12/07/content_7396296.htm| archive-date = 13 December 2019| url-status = live}}</ref> The road was later upgraded to the [[China National Highway 219]]. In the modern day, there are a few businesses along the highway serving motorists.<ref>{{Cite web| title = 新疆死人沟——窒息的环境 惊险的美| trans-title=Death Valley in Xinjiang-a suffocating environment, breathtaking beauty| editor = 罗俊| publisher = [[People's Daily]] Oversea Edition| date = 18 November 2011| access-date = 13 December 2019| url = http://haiwai.people.com.cn/GB/232650/232651/16299673.html| language = zh| quote = 死人沟只有五顶帐篷，能为过往行人提供简单的饭菜面食。对面有一个兵站。[There are only five tents in the Dead Valley, which can provide simple meals and pasta for the passersby. There is a military station opposite.]| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130121164710/http://haiwai.people.com.cn/GB/232650/232651/16299673.html| archive-date = 21 January 2013| url-status = live}}</ref>

In the 2010s, geological surveys were conducted in the Western Kunlun region, which Aksai Chin is part of.<ref name="cgs">{{Cite web| title = 2017年矿产资源地质调查新进展| trans-title=New progress in geological survey of mineral resources in 2017| author = 张作衡| publisher = China Geological Survey| date = September 2017| access-date = 16 January 2020| url = http://www.cgs.gov.cn/ddztt/kydh/2017kydh/xjz/201709/P020170921516042844582.pdf| language = zh| page = 27| quote = 新疆西昆仑地区铅锌找矿取得一批新发现...火烧云铅锌矿已提交333以上铅锌资源储量1704万吨...调查发现多宝山、萨岔口、团结峰、甜水海、鸡冠石、天柱山等10余处中小型矿床 [A number of new discoveries have been made in lead-zinc prospecting in the West Kunlun area of Xinjiang... The Huoshaoyun lead-zinc deposit has submitted a lead-zinc resource reserve of more than 333 million tons... Tianzhushan and more than ten small and medium-sized deposits]|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200125185543/http://www.cgs.gov.cn/ddztt/kydh/2017kydh/xjz/201709/P020170921516042844582.pdf| archive-date = 25 January 2020| url-status = live}}</ref> [[Huoshaoyun]], a major lead-zinc deposit, and numerous smaller deposits were discovered in the region.<ref name="cgs"/> Huoshaoyun is a mountain located in Aksai Chin near the Tibetan border.<ref name="GaoYi2018">{{cite journal|last1=Gao|first1=Ting|last2=Yi|first2=Huan|last3=Han|first3=Ling|last4=Ren|first4=Guangli|last5=Yang|first5=Min|title=Detection of Pb–Zn mineralization zones in west Kunlun using Landsat 8 and ASTER remote sensing data|journal=Journal of Applied Remote Sensing|volume=12|issue=2|year=2018|pages=1|issn=1931-3195|doi=10.1117/1.JRS.12.026018|bibcode=2018JARS...12b6018Y|doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[Mining#Mine development and life cycle|mining development]] for Huoshaoyun started in 2017.<ref name="meta_Deve">{{Cite web |title=Development starts on China's largest lead-zinc mine |last=Ma |first=Echo |work=Fastmarkets |publisher=Metal Bulletin |date=24 February 2017 |access-date=28 December 2019 |url=https://www.metalbulletin.com/Article/3664041/Development-starts-on-Chinas-largest-lead-zinc-mine.html |quote=The Huoshaoyun lead-zinc mine site in Xinjiang province, 5,500 metres above sea level, is reported to contain about 19 million tonnes of lead and zinc, with an average grade of 30%, according to the China Geological Survey. It will be the world’s seventh-largest lead-zinc mine.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228101449/https://www.metalbulletin.com/Article/3664041/Development-starts-on-Chinas-largest-lead-zinc-mine.html |archive-date=28 December 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="news_TheP">{{Cite web |title=The Prospecting Space of Huoshaoyun lead-Zinc Mine in Xinjiang extends to the periphery by nearly 15&nbsp;km-Shanghai Metals Market |author=Geological Survey in China |publisher=[[Shanghai Metals Market]]|date=15 July 2019|access-date=28 December 2019|url=https://news.metal.com/newscontent/100949851/the-prospecting-space-of-huoshaoyun-lead-zinc-mine-in-xinjiang-extends-to-the-periphery-by-nearly-15-km/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228101447/https://news.metal.com/newscontent/100949851/the-prospecting-space-of-huoshaoyun-lead-zinc-mine-in-xinjiang-extends-to-the-periphery-by-nearly-15-km/|archive-date=28 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Transportation==
[[China National Highway 219]] runs through Aksai Chin connecting [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]] ([[Ngari Prefecture]]) and [[Xinjiang]] ([[Hotan Prefecture]]).

In July 2022, [[Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China|Ministry of Transport of China]] published updated ''[[China National Highway Network Planning (2013–2030)|China National Highway Network Plan]]'' that includes [[China National Highway 695]] which will go from [[Lhünzê Town]], [[Lhünzê County]], Tibet to [[Mazar Township]], [[Yining County]], Xinjiang travelling through Aksai Chin.<ref>{{Cite web|title=China’s highway plans near border expected to spark concern in India|last=Laura|first=Zhou|work=South China Morning Post|date=20 July 2022|access-date=4 September 2023|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3185885/china-india-border-beijings-new-highway-plans-near-disputed|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |title=国家公路网规划 |wslink=国家公路网规划 |last= |first= |authorlink= |date=2022-07-04 |publisher=Ministry of Transport of China|location= |page= |pages= |scan=|wslanguage=zh}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China]]
* [[Arunachal Pradesh]]
* [[Changtang]]
* [[Demchok sector]]
* [[Depsang Plains]]
* [[Ladakh]] 
* [[List of locations in Aksai Chin]]
* [[Nelang]]
* [[Rutog County]]
* [[Shaksgam Valley]]
* [[Trans-Karakoram Tract]]
* [[2013 Depsang standoff]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{citation |last=Maxwell |first=Neville |author-link=Neville Maxwell |title=India's China War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=csbHAAAAIAAJ |year=1970 |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=978-0-394-47051-1 |ref={{sfnref|Maxwell, India's China War|1970}}}}
* {{citation |last=Mehra |first=Parshotam |title=An "agreed" frontier: Ladakh and India's northernmost borders, 1846-1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mIduAAAAMAAJ |year=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195627589 |ref={{sfnref|Mehra, An "agreed" frontier|1992}}}}
* {{citation |last=Woodman |first=Dorothy |title=Himalayan Frontiers: A Political Review of British, Chinese, Indian, and Russian Rivalries |publisher=Praeger |year=1969 |url=https://archive.org/details/himalayanfrontie00wood |via=archive.org }}
* [[:File:SINO-INDIAN BORDER DEFENSES CHUSHUL AREA CIA-RDP89B00569R000200120051-4.pdf|Sino-Indian Border Defenses Chushul Area]] (CIA, 1963)

==External links==
{{Library resources box}}
{{Wiktionary|Aksai Chin}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150415164244/http://acdis.illinois.edu/assets/docs/222/articles/ChinaandKashmir.pdf China and Kashmir], by Jabin T. Jacob, published in [https://web.archive.org/web/20090421082744/http://acdis.illinois.edu/publications/207/publication-The-Future-of-Kashmir.html The Future of Kashmir], special issue of ACDIS Swords and Ploughshares, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, University of Illinois, winter 2007–8.
*[http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/SouthAsia/kashmir.html ''Conflict in Kashmir: Selected Internet Resources by the Library, University of California, Berkeley, USA'']; [[University of California, Berkeley]] Library Bibliographies and Web-Bibliographies list
* [http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/629-the-beauty-of-duplicity-two-maps-of-kashmir Two maps of Kashmir]: maps showing the Indian and Pakistani positions on the border.

{{Regions and administrative territories of Kashmir}}

[[Category:Aksai Chin| ]]
[[Category:China in the Kashmir conflict]]
[[Category:Sino-Indian border dispute]]
[[Category:Geography of Ladakh]]
[[Category:Geography of Tibet]]
[[Category:Geography of Xinjiang]]
[[Category:History of Ladakh]]
[[Category:Hotan Prefecture]]
[[Category:Ladakh]]
[[Category:China–India border]]