copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-08): Aksai Chin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of Ladakh union territory. Geographically, Aksai Chin is a southwestward extension of the Plateau of Tibet. The territory administered by China is situated largely in the southernmost part of the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, China, with a small portion on the southeast and south sides lying within the extreme western limit of the Tibet Autonomous Region. With an average elevation of some 17,000 feet (5,180 metres), Aksai Chin consists largely of a high, isolated, inhospitable, and mostly uninhabitable plain bordered to the west and southwest by the Karakoram Range and to the north and northeast by the Kunlun Mountains. Its terrain is more rugged to the northwest, and there is internal drainage into small alkaline lakes in the east. The climate is cold and dry, with most of the little precipitation the region receives falling in the summer months of July and August.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-06-16): The incident occurred during a "deescalation process" underway in the Galwan Valley in the disputed Aksai Chin-Ladakh area, where a large troop build-up has reportedly been taking place for weeks now on both sides of the border, before senior military commanders began talks earlier this month. [...] The LAC runs between Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin and the rest of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region. [...] Aksai Chin is administered by China as part of Xinjiang, but is also claimed by the Indian government as part of Ladakh.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-06-17): The site of the clash was on the de facto border - the Line of Actual Control or LAC - between the two countries. India and China share a border that is more than 3,440km (2,100 miles) long and have overlapping territorial claims. The Galwan river valley, with its harsh climate and high altitude terrain, lies along the western sector of the LAC and close to Aksai Chin, a disputed area claimed by India but controlled by China. [...] In May, media reports said Chinese forces had put up tents, dug trenches and moved heavy equipment several kilometres inside what had been regarded by India as its territory.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-10-06): The extreme controversy of whether Aksai Chin (Eastern Ladakh) is part of India or a "part of China" has heightened conflict between India and China in recent months. It should be very clear that Aksai Chin also known as Eastern Ladakh is not a part of China as India has historically never shared a border with China. In fact if it had not been for the Chinese occupation of East Turkistan in 1949 and Tibet in 1950, no border would exist connecting India and China. [...] Aksai Chin (Eastern Ladakh) was annexed into Chinese occupied East Turkistan, or what China calls "Xinjiang" following the Sino-India War of 1962. Looking at historical data and maps pre-1962, including maps created by the British, Chinese, East Turkistan, Indian, Russian, and United States governments, we can see that since at least 1865 Aksai Chin (Eastern Ladakh) was exclusively marked as being a part of India. Therefore the issue of Aksai Chin (Eastern Ladakh) being a part of India should no longer be a controversy as it had been recognized internationally as being a part of India nearly a century prior to China invaded and occupied it in 1962. China has no right to Aksai Chin (Eastern Ladakh) and is illegally occupying India’s sovereign territory since 1962 just like it has been occupying East Turkistan since 1949 and Tibet since 1950.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-06-18): The China-India Border Dispute: What to Know [...] The Ladakh region is especially complex, with particularly unusual features. First, there is Aksai Chin, a territory that India has long claimed but China occupies. China began building a road through the area in 1956—linking Tibet to Xinjiang—and has occupied it since 1962. There is also territory that Pakistan ceded to China in 1963. Surveying and mapping the region’s terrain historically proved immensely challenging. A forthcoming history of the Ladakh region points out how colonial-era efforts to survey this area using natural features such as watersheds as focal points did not always align with cartographic needs for precision, and, importantly, ideas of where a country’s territory begins and ends. [...] Explanations circulating in the Indian and international media cover a broad range: China was unhappy with India’s actions in August 2019 to end Jammu and Kashmir’s traditional autonomy, one result of which was the creation of the Union Territory of Ladakh; China saw India’s recent road construction work in the area as a change to the status quo and a challenge to its strategic position; China dislikes India drawing closer to the United States and its allies in Asia; China seeks to distract attention from its part in the global pandemic; and the frank appraisal that India’s growing military imbalance with China, and China’s "political will" to deploy its might under President Xi Jinping, is the real difference.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-08-31): India protested after Beijing released the map showing north-eastern Arunachal Pradesh state and the disputed Aksai Chin plateau as China's territory. [...] Foreign Minister S Jaishankar called China's claim "absurd". An Indian official said afterwards that the two countries had agreed to "intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation" along the disputed border. [...] China says it considers the whole of Arunachal Pradesh its territory, calling it "South Tibet" - a claim India firmly rejects. India claims the Aksai Chin plateau in the Himalayas, which is controlled by China.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-06-10): Like India’s struggle with Pakistan over Kashmir, the dispute over Aksai Chin is almost as old as India itself. The origins of the dispute date back to the British Raj, which failed to clearly demarcate the border between its colony and China. By and large, today’s border issue revolves around two main boundary designs that have been put forward by the British. One of them, the Johnson-line, places Aksai Chin under Indian control, whereas the other, the MacDonald-line, classifies it as Chinese territory. However, neither of these boundaries has ever been codified in a binding bilateral treaty. And so, the status of the Indo-Chinese border in the western section at the time of Indian independence remained unsolved. With New Delhi using the Johnson-line as its national border, and Beijing adhering to the MacDonald-line, Aksai Chin became a breeding ground for conflict. In the 1950s, after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) annexed Xinjiang and Tibet, Beijing ordered the construction of a road to connect both regions. Because the road, known as Highway 219, runs through Aksai Chin, China started to take effective control of the area. However, it was not until 1957 that the Indians learnt about the road.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-11-01): Consider the maps of India that each Quad country utilizes. U.S. maps, such as this from the CIA, highlight India’s claim over Aksai Chin; they do not imply Chinese sovereignty even as they show the border and the line of actual control separately. Maps published by the Australian government, however, signal that Aksai Chin is actually part of China. The same holds true with both Japan’s foreign ministry and Japan’s premier NGO, which is funded by its Foreign Ministry. Few diplomats in Washington, Canberra, or Tokyo may think about such maps. In the State Department, resident cartographers might fall on the ladder of prestige slightly below the deputy assistant coffee-getter. Smug dismissiveness of Indian concerns, however, will not advance the Quad but will instead enforce the perception that the United States, Australia, and Japan do not fully appreciate India’s security concerns or its previous victimization by China (and its vassals). Simply put, if the Quad is going to move forward, both as a strategic dialogue and perhaps more, it is time that not only the United States but also Australia and Japan side unequivocally with India. This means, in practice, jointly recognizing that Aksai Chin is occupied Indian territory, as much a part of Ladakh as Kargil and Leh. Not only should the maps of all Quad members reflect this, but also their policies. The days in which a man like Kissinger can treat the world’s largest democracy as a junior partner should be over.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-06-18): The western section, where the most recent clash took place, divides India’s Ladakh region and the Chinese-administered Aksai Chin in the heavily-contested Kashmir region. [...] China holds the area of Aksai Chin, which it says is part of Xinjiang. India believes it is part of Ladakh. [...] The border between Ladakh and Aksai Chin is a result of the 1962 war between India and China, roughly marking where the two armies finished fighting more than half a century ago.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-06-26): Beijing has also been alarmed by certain shifts in Indian domestic policy. In August 2019, the Indian Parliament repealed Article 370 of the country’s constitution, which had guaranteed the autonomy of the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. Fulfilling a campaign pledge, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleaved the state into two federally administered union territories to be ruled directly from New Delhi. One of these new territories, Ladakh, nominally includes both Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin and some Pakistani-administered areas of Kashmir. In remarks in Parliament in August 2019, Indian Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah described Aksai Chin as "occupied" and underscored that "we will sacrifice our lives for it."
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-09-25): Shortly after India modified the status of Jammu and Kashmir, making it a Union Territory, India then focused on the Aksai Chin region. Originally a part of the Kashmir Region, Aksai Chin has been under Chinese control since 1962. However, India’s position has been that Aksai Chin is a part of India under the illegal occupation of China. In the past, India’s stance on Aksai Chin has been docile, but the aggressive move on Kashmir emboldened India. Keeping up with the rhetoric around Kashmir, India’s Home Minister Amit Shah went a step further. He said that Aksai Chin is a territory of India that India lost to China in the 1962 war, and vowed to take Aksai Chin back from China. This was an explicit threat to China coming from the top echelons of power in India. This irritated Chinese leadership, and thus they trespassed into the Ladakh region of India to pre-empt any adventurism by India in Aksai Chin. While India did not have any plans of invading Aksai Chin, Amit Shah’s statement proved to be a serious miscalculation.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-08-30): India said on Tuesday that it had lodged a "strong protest" with China a day after Beijing released the 2023 edition of its standard map showing Aksai Chin — an area of Kashmir mostly controlled by China — and the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh within Chinese territory. [...] The dispute escalated into a full-fledged war in 1962 when, according to India, China occupied 38,000 square kilometers of Aksai Chin. India still claims the China-occupied region as part of its Ladakh territory while China insists that Aksai Chin was long part of the ancient Chinese empire. [...] On Tuesday, spokesperson Bagchi said that China's claims to Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh have "no basis" and that steps like the release of the map "only complicate the resolution of the boundary question."
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-07-02): The disputed Aksai Chin-Ladakh area [...] The Galwan River is the highest ridge line and overlooks the DSDBO road, posing a direct threat to the highway’s security. By controlling this area China can keep India’s claims on the Aksai Chin plateau in check. India claims China has recently begun amassing troops in the LAC and venturing deeper into the contested area. [...] The Galwan River flows from Aksai Chin towards Ladakh. Galwan Valley and the adjoining region experience freezing temperatures for much of the year. The forbidding conditions are arid and inhospitable.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-11-10): The longest disputed border in the world, the India-China boundary has experienced recurring conflicts since 1962. Incursions tend to occur in two distinct regions: Aksai Chin, a region north of Nepal that is controlled by China but claimed by India, and Arunachal Pradesh, a region east of Bhutan that is controlled by India but claimed by China. [...] Although hotspots occur throughout Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh, the researchers’ game-theory analysis indicates that only the incursions in Aksai Chin are part of a coordinated effort. Building on insights from game theory, the researchers predict that China is trying to establish permanent control over Aksai Chin by allocating more troops for a longer period of time than India. [...] "Knowing there are more incursions in the western sector is not a surprise," he said. "Aksai Chin is a strategic area that China wants to develop, so it’s very critical to them. It’s a vital passageway between China and the Chinese autonomous regions of Tibet and Xinjiang."
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-09-30): On June 15, 2020, with the world distracted by the COVID-19 pandemic, China and India entered into a new confrontational phase of the tense standoff along their undefined 2,100 mile (3,380 km) border, known as the line of control (LOC). There were twenty Indian casualties from hand-to-hand combat in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, the first deaths in a confrontation between the two neighbors since 1975. The Chinese Foreign Ministry admitted to some limited casualties but declined to report their number. The two countries fought a brief border war in 1962, after which China acquired Aksai Chin, the locus of the June clashes, which India claims as a part of Jammu and Kashmir. [...] Territory: China claims 35,000 square miles (90,000 square kilometers) of Indian territory including Arunachal Pradesh, while India claims 15,000 square miles (38,000 square km) of Chinese territory, including Aksai Chin. In August 2019 India incorporated Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territory of Ladakh, a move which Chinese officials cricitized as a unilateral change in Kashmir's status.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of India (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-04-09): The Aksai Chin comprises the western sector of the 2,100-mile disputed Sino-Indian border defined by the LAC. As seen on figure 1, the road and railroad infrastructure in the region is extremely limited, as are the number of airfields. The distances between major cities are great, and transportation is difficult because of the altitude, mountains, rivers, deserts, and climate. The average elevation in the Aksai Chin is some 17,000 feet (over 5,000 meters) above sea level, requiring troops from lower elevations to take days to over a week to acclimate, and frequently requires the use of oxygen while marching or exercising. The altitude and extreme cold also adversely affect the performance of weapons, vehicles, and aircraft.6
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of China (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-08-10): Aksai Chin is a region administered by China partly in Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang[2] and partly in Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and China since 1959.[1] It is claimed by India as part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. [...] Aksai Chin is one of the two large disputed border areas between India and China. India claims Aksai Chin as the easternmost part of the union territory of Ladakh. China claims that Aksai Chin is part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region. The line that separates Indian-administered areas of Ladakh from Aksai Chin is known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and is concurrent with the Chinese Aksai Chin claim line. [...] ماقالە يازغۇچى داۋاملاشتۇرۇپ: بۇ تېررىتورىيىنىڭ نامى تۈرك تىلىدا، "ئاقساي چىن " دېيىلىدۇ، بۇ ئىسىمدىكى "چىن" سۆزى جۇڭگونى كۆرسىتىدۇ، ئېيتىشلارغا ئاساسلانغاندا، بۇ سۆزنىڭ مەنىسى – " جۇڭگونىڭ ئاق تاشلىق جىلغىسى ياكى جۇڭگونىڭ ئاق تاشلىق سېيى" دېگەنلىك بولىدۇ دەيدۇ. [The author goes on to say that the name of the territory is in Turkish, "Aksai Chin", and the word "Chin" in that name means China, and it is said that the word means "White Valley of China or China's White River".]
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of China (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-05-29): "The situation is serious. The Chinese have come into territory which they themselves accepted as part of India. It has completely changed the status quo," says Ajai Shukla, an Indian military expert who served as a colonel in the army. [...] The new federally-administered Ladakh included Aksai Chin, an area India claims but China controls. [...] China already controls the Aksai Chin area further east of Ladakh and this region, claimed by India, is strategically important for Beijing as it connects its Xinjiang province with western Tibet.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of China (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-09-11): Raking through the worn-out pages of history, India Today’s OSINT team pulls out via maps and facts the truth behind China’s claim over the disputed land of Aksai Chin. [...] "The British did not pay much attention to the Chinese moves in this remote and inhospitable area, and, in order to create yet another buffer zone between the expanding Russian empire and Tibet, a new boundary was drawn in 1893. It became known as the Macartney-MacDonald Line and placed most of Aksai Chin on the Chinese side of the territory." [...] From 1917 to 1933, the ‘Postal Atlas of China’ showed international boundaries almost identical to the Johnson-Ardagh line in all of its publications, with Aksai Chin within British territory.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of China (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-06-22): Aksai Chin is a disputed border area between China and India since 1950s. China controls Aksai Chin area, while India claims that it is part of Indian territory (Union territory of Ladakh). During the time of British rule in India, two borders between India and China were proposed- Johnson’s Line and McDonald Line. The Johnson’s line (proposed in 1865) shows Aksai Chin in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir (now Ladakh) i.e. under India’s control whereas McDonald Line (proposed in 1893) places it under China’s control. India considers Johnson Line as a correct, rightful national border with China. On the other hand, China considers the McDonald Line as the correct border with India. At present, Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the line separating Indian areas of Ladakh from Aksai Chin. It is concurrent with the Chinese Aksai Chin claim line.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of China (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-30): The main cause of the war was a dispute over the sovereignty of the widely separated Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh border regions. Aksai Chin, claimed by India to belong to Ladakh and by China to be part of Xinjiang, contains an important road link that connects the Chinese regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. China's construction of this road was one of the triggers of the conflict. [...] As a consequence of their non-recognition of the McMahon Line, China's maps showed both the North East Frontier Area (NEFA) and Aksai Chin to be Chinese territory.[47] In 1960, Zhou Enlai unofficially suggested that India drop its claims to Aksai Chin in return for a Chinese withdrawal of claims over NEFA. Adhering to his stated position, Nehru believed that China did not have a legitimate claim over either of these territories, and thus was not ready to concede them. This adamant stance was perceived in China as Indian opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet.[39] Nehru declined to conduct any negotiations on the boundary until Chinese troops withdrew from Aksai Chin, a position supported by the international community.[37]
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of China (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-06-22): Aksai Chin is disputed between India and China since the formation of India and it goes back to the nineteenth century. William Johnson, a civil servant with the Survey of India, proposed "Johnson Line" in 1865, which put Aksai Chin in Kashmir. This map was not shared with China. The moot question is why not? Because Xinjiang prefecture at that time was not under the control of China. It came under Chinese control years later and it was not until 1892 when China erected boundary markers at Karakoram pass. [...] In the 50s, PLA outposts were constructed in Tianwendian, Kongka Pass, Heweitanand Tianshuihai etc. Indian Army did point out these developments to New Delhi, but then Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai was gaining voice and no one wanted to bell the cat. In the meantime, this road was upgraded to China National Highway 219. These days it is called G219 and it goes through the India claimed region of Aksai Chin. First incident of stone throwing at Indian Army by PLA happened in 2017. It is an important year for the region because in 2010, China conducted geological surveys in Western Kunlun region, which Aksai Chin is part of. Lo and behold in Huoshaoyun, a major lead-zinc deposit, and numerous smaller deposits were discovered. Huoshaoyun is a mountain located in Aksai Chin near the Tibetan border. Mining development of Huoshaoyun started in 2017 and Chinese PLA started pelting stones and started stronger assertions to this strategic piece of land.
Claim: Aksai Chin is a territory of China (Aksai Chin, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-11-13): Following the abrogation of Article 370 and reorganisation of the State of Jammu & Kashmir in August 2019, China strongly criticised the Indian Home Minister’s statement in Parliament, in which he had reiterated India’s long-standing position that the state of Jammu & Kashmir includes Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) as well as Aksai Chin.1 The fact of the matter is that the map of India has always included these territories as part of Jammu & Kashmir, along with POK, including the trans-Karakoram tract of Shaksgam which was illegally ceded by Pakistan to China. [...] China’s actions in occupying Aksai Chin, and subsequently, in usurping the Shaksgam tract in 1963, did have a direct bearing on the territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Given that China had become a party to the territorial dispute in Jammu & Kashmir, it was naturally inclined towards settlement of the issue in favour of Pakistan, in order to preserve its territorial gains from the 1963 agreement.