Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin (,
Hindi: अकसाई चिन) is a region located at the junction of the
People's Republic of China,
Pakistan, and
India. It is administered by China and claimed by India. Aksai Chin is one of the two main border disputes between India and China, the other being
Arunachal Pradesh. Aksai Chin (which literally means 'desert of white stones') is a vast high altitude desert of salt at heights in the region of 5,000m. Geographically part of the Tibetan Plateau and the Chang Tang, Aksai Chin is referrred to the Soda Plain. The region is almost uninhabited.
Aksai Chin was historically part of the Himalayan Kingdom of
Ladakh until Ladakh was annexed by
Kashmir in the 19th century. It was subsequently absorbed into British India and its current disputed status can be traced back to the Kashmir dispute (and rival claims to Kashmir) between India and Pakistan. One of the main causes of the
Sino-Indian War of
1962 was India's discovery of a road China had built through the region, which India considers its territory. The road
China National Highway 219 connecting
Tibet and
Xinjiang, passes through no sizeable town in Aksai Chin, even there are some military posts and truck stop places as (the very small) Tianshuihai (4850m) or Dahongliutian (4200m, see external Link below). The area is strategically important to China because of this road.
Aksai Chin is currently under the administration of the People's Republic of China, with the vast majority of it as a part of
Hotan County, in the primarily Muslim Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. What little data that exists suggests the few true locals in Aksai China tend to have Buddhist beliefs, though some Muslim Uyghurs may also live in the area due to the trade between Tibet and Xinjiang.
India also claims the area as a part of
Ladakh district of the state of
Jammu and Kashmir. Both sides in the dispute have agreed to respect the
Line of Actual Control and this dispute is considered very unlikely to result in actual hostilities. Any settlement seems likely to include a possible land swap involving parts of of the also disputed
Arunachal Pradesh,known in
China as
South Tibet.
Pakistan has a claim on
Kashmir which may also imply a claim to the
Aksai Chin, however border agreements between Pakistan and the PRC in 1963 which transferred the
Trans-Karakoram Tract and 1987 suggest that Pakistan may recognize PRC claims on the areas. No Pakistani Government has ever officially claimed this region, and governments have given tacit approval of the PRC considering this area as a part of China.
*
Kashmir*
Trans-Karakoram Tract*
Ladakh *
Baltistan*
Jammu and Kashmir*
Azad Kashmir*
Northern Areas*
Tibet*
Pamir Mountains*
Wakhan*
Detailed satellite image of Dahonglutian, the largest truck stop place in Aksai Chin
