 After nearly 5 decades of relative peace along the India-China border, Chinese forces started and stand off along the line of actual control during the month of May 2020 with the Indian forces. This has led to deteriorating relationship between India and China. To know about the border issues involving India and its neighbors, watch this video fully. Firstly, take the line of control. See, it separates India and Pakistan. Let us know about the history behind it. In August 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state of the size of 2.06 lakh square miles. But two months later, Pakistan invaded Jammu and Kashmir. Here note that Pakistan invaded despite having signed a standstill agreement with the princely state. So, this made Jammu and Kashmir turn to India for help. And both India and Jammu and Kashmir signed the instrument of accession. After signing the instrument, India responded to the Pakistani intrusion. It resulted in the 1949 war. Then came the intervention of United Nations, which accepted the merger of Jammu and Kashmir with India. A ceasefire line was drawn depending on the actual positions held by the two armies. So, what happened is, the ceasefire line temporarily bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir with India getting control of about 65% of the state and Pakistan the rest 35%. This ceasefire line was formalized in the Karachi Agreement signed in the later part of 1949. It was signed between India and Pakistan with two UN observers signing as witnesses. Here note that the sanctity of the ceasefire line was to be maintained till the final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue. However, two incidents altered the status quo on the Jammu and Kashmir during 1960s. One is the India-China War of 1962 and the other one is the India-Pakistan War of 1965. Firstly, in 1962, China humbled India and captured nearly 20% of the princely state. The area captured was Aksai Chin. Here, note that China denies India's sovereignty over the cold desert region, which is nothing but Aksai Chin. Further, in the year 1963, Pakistan signed an agreement with China and handed over about 2,000 square miles area in northern Kashmir to China. You can see the ceded part in the map present here. Then came the 1965 war. It saw both India and Pakistan occupying each other's territories. India captured nearly 750 square miles while Pakistan take over about 200 square miles. But with the signing of the Tashkent Agreement, both militaries returned to their previous positions along the line of control. Then came the 1971 war. The war ended with Shimla Agreement, which turned the ceasefire line into line of control. This is how it is called today. We can note that there was no line of control before the 1972 Shimla Agreement. This agreement also practically junked the UN resolution as the two countries agreed to resolve all disputes through bilateral talks. So the line of control, thus drawn, gave Pakistan control over Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Guiljit Baltistan. Then the rest of the Jammu and Kashmir minus Aksai Chin is situated on the Indian side of the line of control. There note that line of control was again changed in the year 1984. This is because Siachen Glacier came into the focus in the early 1970s. When Pakistanis got to know that there is an Indian expedition to Siachen Glacier, they went about their plan to capture Siachen aggressively. So they ordered a full range of mountaineering gear from a London-based firm. This firm was also a supplier to the Indian Army. So the information got leaked to India. Now the Indian Army launched Operation Maigdhud to turn the Siachen into one of its bases. See Siachen is the largest glacier in the Trans-Himalayan region. It is a triangular block of literally 76 kilometer length. Now coming back, Pakistan claims that Siachen Glacier belongs to the part of Jammu and Kashmir given to its control under both the Karachi Agreement and the Shimla Agreement. But India claims otherwise. India argues that the crest line beyond NJ 9842 follows a north-west direction and ends with Indrakol of Siachen Glacier. See this Indrakol is the area where territories of Jammu and Kashmir meet the lands occupied by Pakistan and the area which was gifted by Pakistan to China. So the existing line of control runs from Manawar in Jammu to Indrakol on the tri-junction in the Karakoram mountain range. The Indian and Pakistani troops have to maintain a no-man's land of 500 yards on each side of the line of control. Thus, we can say that Pakistan and India has agreed to uphold the line of control and the LOC has been delineated on a map by both sides. This is all about the line of control. In contrast, the alignment of line of actual control has never been agreed upon and it has neither been delineated nor demarcated. That is, there is no official map in the public domain that depicts the line of actual control. So this line of actual control can best be thought of as an idea reflecting the territories that are at present under the control of each side pending a resolution of the boundary dispute. Now, let us see about this line of actual control. See, LAC is the demarcation that separates India-controlled territory from the China-controlled territory in the Kashmir region. Note that the length of Sino-Indian border is 3488 km. You can see here in the map that it covers the western sector which includes the Union Territory of Ladakh and the middle sector which includes Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It also covers the MacMorgan line in the east which covers Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Before the history began this, see, in 1913 the British Indian government had called a tripartite conference and in this conference the boundary between India and Tibet was formalised. But this Indo-Tibetan boundary is however disputed by China which terms it as illegal. And then in 1957 China occupied Aksai Chin and Builder wrote through it. This episode was followed by intermittent classes along the border. Finally, it culminated in the border war of 1962. Then after the war a boundary came into existence. This was known as the Line of Actual Control. Here note that China occupies more than 38,000 square kilometres in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in the Ladakh region. This region is known as Aksai Chin. You can see this disputed area in this image. But know that India recognised the MacMorgan line and considers it to be the actual line of control between India and China. While China does not recognise the MacMorgan line, see MacMorgan line is a boundary line present in the eastern part of the Indo-China border. It lies to the north of Arunachal Pradesh which also borders with China. You can see the MacMorgan line in this image. This MacMorgan line was breached by China in the year 1962 when the Chinese army personnel invaded the eastern boundary of India through the Arunachal Pradesh route. However, they left the region after occupying it for some days. So now practically talking MacMorgan line is the international boundary present between Arunachal Pradesh and China in the present day. This is all about the MacMorgan line. Through this discussion we have learnt about the line of control and also about the line of actual control and the MacMorgan line.