Aksai Chin

Coordinates: 35°7′N, 79°8′E

Aksai Chin is a region located at the juncture of China, Pakistan, and India. It represents about 20 percent of Kashmir.^[1] 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 the dispute over Arunachal Pradesh. Aksai Chin, whose residents speak the Uyghur language (the name literally means "Chin's desert of white stones") is a vast high altitude desert of salt that reaches heights up to 5,000 m. Geographically part of the Tibetan Plateau, Aksai Chin is referred to as the Soda Plain. The region is almost uninhabited and receives little precipitation as the Himalayan and other mountains block the rains from the Indian monsoon.

History

Aksai Chin was historically part of the Tibetan Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh until Ladakh was annexed from the rule of the Namgyal dynasty by the Dogras and the princely state of Kashmir in the 19th century. It was subsequently absorbed into British India by the 1904 treaty between Tibet and British India which led to the McMahon Line demarcation agreed to by Tibet and India in the early decades of 20th century. China, which at that time did not recognize Tibet's Sovereignty but rather considered Xizang (Tibet) to be part of China, did not accept the agreement reached between Tibet and British India. Accordingly China refused to recognize the entire Macmahon line (or, for that matter, any treaty signed by Tibet). 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 China National Highway 219, connecting Tibet and Xinjiang, passes through no sizeable town in Aksai Chin, there are only 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. Most of it is in Hotan County, in the primarily Muslim Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, to which it was transferred by China from Tibet. What little data exists suggests that the few true locals in Aksai Chin have Buddhist beliefs, although some Muslim Uyghurs may also live in the area because of the trade between Tibet and Xinjiang. India also claims the area as a part of the 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.

Pakistan has a claim on Kashmir. However, border agreements between Pakistan and the China in 1963 which transferred the Trans-Karakoram Tract and 1987 say that Pakistan recognizes China's claims on the areas. No Pakistani Government has ever officially claimed this region. The Pakistani Government has given tacit approval of China by considering Aksai Chin as a part of China.

Google Earth Speculation

In June 2006, satellite imagery on the Google Earth service revealed^[2] a 500:1 scale terrain model [1] of eastern Aksai Chin and adjacent Tibet, built near the town of Huangyangtan, about 35 kilometres South West of Yinchuan, the capital of the autonomous region of Ningxia in China. A visual side-by-side comparison shows a very detailed duplication of Aksai Chin in the camp.^[3] The 900m × 700m model was surrounded by substantial facility, with rows of red-roofed buildings, scores of olive-colored trucks and a large compound with elevated lookout posts and a large communications tower. Since terrain models are known to be used in military training and simulation (although usually on a much smaller scale), posters in the Google Earth online community advanced theories regarding the purpose of the model, including usage as

• a model for walk-through terrain visualization exercise in pilot training

• a navigation/gunnery training area for unmanned aerial vehicles that drop small flour or paint bombs in an exercise to simulate trajectories and dispersal patterns

• a model to study dispersal patterns of chemical or biological weapons

• a tank training facility (though some claim this unlikely, as the actual land that the model represents is on a plateau 5000 metres above sea level, where tank warfare would be improbable)

• a model simulating water catchment areas of China's major river systems in climatology research.

Local authorities in Ningxia, however, maintain that the model is part of a tank training ground, built in 1998 or 1999.^[4]

See also

• Kashmir
• Indo-China War Kashmir
• Trans-Karakoram Tract an area of Kashmir administered by China
• Kashmir conflict
• Indian Kashmir barrier
• Kashmiriyat - a socio-cultural ethos of religious harmony and Kashmiri consciousness.
• List of topics on the land and the people of “Jammu and Kashmir”
• Hindutash

References

External links

• China, India, and the fruits of Nehru's folly by Venkatesan Vembu, Daily News & Analysis, June 6, 2007
• Facing the truth Pakistan has solved its border problem with China, but India is caught in a prolonged dispute.
• The Great China-India Game An informative history of the always-ambiguous China-India border in Aksai Chin.
• Aksai Chin: China's disputed slice of Kashmir
• Detailed satellite image of Dahonglutian, the largest truck stop place in Aksai Chin
• Conflict in Kashmir: Selected Internet Resources by the Library, University of California, Berkeley, USA; University of California, Berkeley Library Bibliographies and Web-Bibliographies list
• Satellite image of large scale terrain model of Aksai Chin
• Diagram explaining the situation
• Photos from Google Earth
• Why China is playing hardball in Arunachal by Venkatesan Vembu, Daily News & Analysis, May 13, 2007

Territorial disputes in East, South, and Southeast Asia
Type	Territory	Currently Administered by	Claimants
Land:	Aksai Chin		2
	Arunachal Pradesh		2
	Assam
	East Turkestan		1 2
	Heixiazi / Bolshoy Ussuriyskiy (Eastern part)2
	Heixiazi / Bolshoy Ussuriyskiy (Western part)2
	Indo-Bangladesh enclaves3
	Kashmir3		2
	Kachin State		1 2
	Kayin State		1
	Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands3
	Mainland China2
	Mongolia2
	Pamir Mountains (Northern and central parts)2
	Pamir Mountains (Southern part)2
	Pattani		1
	Sabah		2
	Shan State		1
	Sixty-Four Villages East of the Heilongjiang River2
	Tannu Uriankhai (now Tuva Republic of Russia)2
	Tibet		1 2
	Trans-Karakoram Tract		2
	Wa State		1
Islands and Waters:	Kinmen
	Liancourt Rocks		2
	Macclesfield Bank
	Matsu
	Paracel Islands
	Pedra Branca
	Pratas Islands
	Scarborough Shoal
	Senkaku Islands
	Sir Creek3
	Socotra Rock		2 2
	Southern Kuril Islands
	Spratly Islands3
	Taiwan and Pescadores
Notes:	1Government in exile/exiled group. 2Inactive dispute. 3Divided among multiple claimants.

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