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In Pictures: The history of India-China border conflict

Both countries claim vast swathes of each other’s territory along their Himalayan border, often leading to clashes.

Indian officers occupying a fort on the Ladakh border during the war between India and China, 1962. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Indian officers occupying a fort on the Ladakh border during the 1962 war between India and China. [Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images]
Published On 17 Jun 202017 Jun 2020
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India says at least 20 of its soldiers were killed after hand-to-hand fighting with Chinese troops at a disputed border site on Monday night, in the deadliest clash between the two Asian giants in decades.

China said its troops were engaged in a “violent physical confrontation” with Indian soldiers, but has given no details of those killed or wounded.

Both Indian and Chinese officials accuse each other of crossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between the nuclear-armed Asian giants. The LAC is largely based on the ceasefire line after the war in 1962, but both sides disagree on where it lies.

The latest clashes took place at a disputed border site in the Galwan area of Ladakh, in the western Himalayas, an area at an altitude of around 14,000 feet where temperatures often fall below freezing.

The disputed site lies amid remote jagged mountains and fast-flowing rivers on the northern tip of India, abutting the Aksai Chin Plateau, which is claimed by India but administered by China.

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Both countries claim vast swaths of each other’s territory along the Himalayan border, with some disagreements rooted in demarcations by British colonial administrators of India.

India and China fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962 and distrust has occasionally led to flare-ups ever since. Infrastructure building near or within disputed territories is often blamed for increases in tensions.

The last major dispute took place in 2017 on the remote Doklam plateau near the borders of India, Bhutan, and China, at the eastern end of the 4,056-km (2,520-mile) long border. After a tense standoff, both sides agreed to an “expeditious disengagement” of troops.

As the Chinese Army drive towards Tezpur during the Sino-Indian War, refugees fleeing with all of their belongings, India, November 23rd 1962. (Photo by Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
As the Chinese Army drives towards Tezpur during the Sino-Indian War, Indian refugees flee with their belongings in this November 23, 1962 photo. [Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images]
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As the Chinese Army drive towards Tezpur during the Sino-Indian War, refugees fleeing with all of their belongings, India, November 23rd 1962. (Photo by Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Indian refugees fleeing with their belongings. The 1962 India-China war left thousands dead on the Indian side before China's forces withdrew. [Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images]
An Indian soldier guards a hastily hrown-together fort in the Ladakh border region during the Sino-Indian War. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
An Indian soldier guards a bunker at the Ladakh border region during the 1962 Sino-Indian War. [Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images]
Chinese soldiers guard the border on the Nathu La mountain pass connecting India and China''s Tibet Autonomous Region during the Chola incident (or Sino-Indian skirmish), Himalayas, 3rd October 1967. (
Chinese soldiers guard the border on the Nathu La mountain pass connecting India and China's Tibet Autonomous Region on October 3, 1967. [Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images]
Indian soldiers carry bodies that were handed over to them by Chinese troops on the border with Sikkim, India, September 14, 1967. (Photo by KEYSTONE-FRANCE / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Indian soldiers carry bodies that were handed over to them by the Chinese troops on the border with Sikkim, India, in this September 14, 1967 photo. [Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images]
Chinese soldiers guard the border on the Nathu La mountain pass connecting India and China''s Tibet Autonomous Region during the Chola incident (or Sino-Indian skirmish), Himalayas, 3rd October 1967. (
Chinese soldiers guard the border on the Nathu La mountain pass. During a series of clashes in 1967, including the exchange of artillery fire, New Delhi said some 80 Indian soldiers died and counted up to 400 Chinese casualties. [Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images]
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epa08490228 Indian army trucks move along a highway leading to Ladakh, at Gagangeer some 81 kilometers from Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 17 June 2020. According to news reports, twe
Indian army trucks move along a highway leading to Ladakh, at Gagangir, some 81 km (50 miles) from Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir on June 17, 2020. [Farooq Khan/EPA]
Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers guard highway leading towards Leh, bordering China, in Gagangir on June 17, 2020. - The long-running border dispute between Asian nuclear powers India and
India's Border Security Force soldiers guard a highway leading towards Leh, bordering China, in Gagangir on June 17, 2020. [Tauseef Mustafa/AFP]


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