Everything about Aksai Chin totally explained
Aksai Chin (
Simplified Chinese: 阿克赛钦, Ākèsàiqīn,
Hindi:अकसाई चिन) is a region located at the juncture of
China,
Pakistan, and
India. It represents about one fifth of
Jammu and Kashmir. 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 (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 metres. It covers an area of 16, 481 sq miles or (42, 685 sq km) of the disputed territory. Geographically part of the
Tibetan Plateau, Aksai Chin is referred to as the Soda Plain. The region is almost uninhabited, has no permanent settlements, 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
Himalayan Kingdom of
Ladakh until Ladakh was annexed from the rule of the local
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, under which parts of
Arunachal Pradesh namely
Tawang, would have been annexed by the
British India, agreed to by
Tibet and India.
China, which at that time didn't recognize
Tibet's
Sovereignty but rather considered
Xizang (Tibet) to be under the suzerainty of
China, didn't 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 sizable town in Aksai Chin, there are only some military posts and truck stops, such 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's 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 also has laid a claim on
Jammu and Kashmir. However, border agreements between Pakistan and 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 a 500:1 scale terrain model
(External Link
) 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. 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.
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.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Aksai Chin'.
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