Aksai Chin

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China - India Western border showing Aksai Chin

Aksai Chin (Simplified Chinese: }}}; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: , 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 and sees little rain (more likely snow) due to the Himalaya and other mountains to the south soaking up the Indian monsoon.

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 it's 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 the settlement of Tianshuihai, the only sizeable town in the region with about 1600 inhabitants (mainly a military outpost). 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. However, 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.

Aksai Chin

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