->Kautilya3 at 23:12, 6 August 2021

2021-08-06T23:12:35Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox mountain pass
| name = Lanak La
| native_name = ལ་ནག་ལ
| map = China Tibet#India Ladakh
| map_relief = 0
| map_caption = Location of Lanak La
| location = [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]], China ;[[Ladakh|India]]
| coords = {{coord|34.3938|N|79.5391|E|type:pass|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| photo =
| photo_caption =
| elevation_m = 5466
| elevation_ref =
| traversed = Provincial Road S519
| range =
| topo =
}}
{{chinese
|c=拉那克山口
|p=Lānàkè Shānkǒu
}}
'''Lanak La''' ({{bo|t=ལ་ནག་ལ}}; transliteration: ''Lanag La'') or '''Lanak Pass''' ({{zh|c=拉那克山口|p=Lā nà kè shānkǒu}}; Hindi: लानक दर्रा) is a mountain pass in the disputed [[Aksai Chin]] region, administered by China as part of the [[Tibet Autonomous Region]]. It is claimed by India as its border pass.

== History ==
[[File:Changchenmo-Valley-map-by-Frederic-Drew.jpg|thumb|left|275px|The Changchenmo Valley depicted by [[Frederic Drew]], 1875. Lanak Pass labelled as simply "Pass" at the eastern end of the valley, through which the border passed.<ref>{{citation |last=Drew |first=Frederic |title=The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories: A Geographical Account |url=https://archive.org/details/jummooandkashmi00drewgoog/page/n5 |year=1875 |publisher=E. Stanford |via=archive.org}}</ref>]]
Lanak La had been a well-established frontier point between Ladakh and Tibet, as confirmed by travellers from [[William Moorcroft (explorer)|William Moorcroft]] in 1820 onwards.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Richardson|first1=H. E.|title=A Short History of Tibet|date=1962|publisher=E. P. Dutton|page=225|url=https://www.questia.com/read/4131499|isbn=}}{{dl|date=July 2021}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> Several travellers wrote in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the traditional boundary between India and Tibet was at Lanak La. They also state that the border was accepted by both sides.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wellby, M.S. |title=Through Unknown Tibet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Awwo3xwkQUC |year=1898 |publisher=Lippincott |isbn= 9788120610583|page=78}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Carey|first= A. D.|journal= Proceedings of the Royal Geographic Society| volume =9|year= 1887|title=A Journey round Chinese Turkistan and along the Northern frontier of Tibet|issue= 12|pages= 731–752|doi= 10.2307/1801130|jstor=1801130|url= https://zenodo.org/record/1806393}}</ref><ref>Bower, Hamilton, ''Diary of A Journey across Tibet'', London, 1894</ref><ref>Rawling, C. G., ''The Great Plateau Being An Account Of Exploration In Central Tibet, 1903, And Of The Gartok Expedition 1904-1905'', p 38, London, 1905</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Deasy|first1=H. H. P.|title=Journeys in Central Asia|journal=The Geographical Journal|date=Aug 1900|volume=6|issue=2|page=142|jstor=1774554|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1596010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bruce|first1=C. D.|title=A Journey across Asia from Leh to Peking|journal=The Geographical Journal|date=Jun 1907|volume=29|issue=6|page=600|jstor=1776269|doi=10.2307/1776269|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449254}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/OR_Part_2.pdf|title=Report of the Officials of the Governments of India and the People's Republic of China on the Boundary Question - Part 2|publisher=Ministry of External Affairs, India, 1961|access-date=30 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053454/http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/OR_Part_2.pdf|archive-date=21 September 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name=pathforresolution>{{cite journal
| last1 = Verma
| first1 = Virendra Sahai
| year =2006
| title =Sino-Indian Border Dispute At Aksai Chin - A Middle Path For Resolution
| journal =Journal of Development Alternatives and Area Studies
| volume =25
| issue =3
| pages =6–8
| issn =1651-9728
| access-date =30 August 2013
| url =http://chinaindiaborderdispute.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/virendravermapaperborderdispute.pdf
}}</ref>

There are substantial Kashmiri Government records for the area of the Chang Chenmo valley up to the Lanak pass. In addition to the revenue records, 1908 Ladakh Settlement Report, reports of several survey teams, the Jammu and Kashmir Game Preservation Act of 1951, there are Kashmiri documents relating to the construction and maintenance of trade routes, rest houses, and storehouses in the Chang Chenmo valley. All of them placed the entire valley up to the Lanak Pass within Ladakh.<ref name="HimalayanBground">{{harvp|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963|p=112}}</ref>

{{clear left}}

==Chinese claims==
[[File:1947 ROC claim line in Ladakh.jpg|thumb|left|265px|1947 map of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] showing the Lanak La boundary]]
[[File:Chinese claim lines in Ladakh - map by CIA.png|thumb|right|265px|Chinese claim lines in Ladakh (map by [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]])]]

Chinese maps also recognised Lanak La as the boundary till 1951.<ref name=Karackattu>
{{cite journal |last1=Karackattu |first1=Joe Thomas |title=The Corrosive Compromise of the Sino-Indian Border Management Framework: From Doklam to Galwan |journal=Asian Affairs |volume=51 |issue=3 |year=2020 |pages=590–604 |doi=10.1080/03068374.2020.1804726 |s2cid=222093756 |ref={{sfnref|Karackattu, The Corrosive Compromise|2020}}}}
</ref>
In 1956, the [[People's Republic of China]] published what appears to be its first self-defined map, in which Kongka Pass was marked as the boundary.

There was no Chinese presence in the area of Lanak La till June 1958, when an Indian patrol party had gone up to it along the Changchenmo Valley.<ref>
{{harvp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=77}}: "This company was commanded by the most experienced Indian patrol leader in Ladakh, one Karam Singh, who (the previous June) had taken a patrol through Hot Spring, Kongka Pass, and then forty miles further to Lanak La. No sign of a Chinese presence had been seen then..."
</ref><ref>
{{citation |first=B. N. |last=Mullik |title=My Years with Nehru: The Chinese Betrayal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QGRuAAAAMAAJ |year=1971 |publisher=Allied Publishers |page=627}}
</ref>
There was an Indian flag planted there until 1956.<ref>
{{cite book |last=Hudson |first=Geoffrey Francis |title=Far Eastern Affairs, Volume 3 |year=1963 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |page=20}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/White_Paper_8.pdf |title=Notes, Memoranda and letters Exchanged and Agreements signed between The Governments of India and China - White Paper VIII |access-date=30 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053643/http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/White_Paper_8.pdf |archive-date=21 September 2013 |url-status=dead}}
</ref>

In the following year, Chinese troops had infiltrated into the Changchenmo Valley. In October 1959, as an Indian border patrol party was attempting to set up posts in the vicinity of the Kongka Pass,<ref>
{{harvp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=77}}: "It happened two miles ''west of the pass'', on the banks of the Chang Chenmo River." (emphasis added)
</ref><ref name="maxwell">
{{cite book |title=India's China War |last=Maxwell |first=Neville |author-link=Neville Maxwell |year=1970 |publisher=Pantheon |location=New York |page=13 }}
</ref> they were [[Kongka Pass incident|ambushed by Chinese troops]], killing some of them and taking others prisoner.<ref name="maxwell"/>

Some western scholars such as [[Larry Wortzel]] and [[Allen S. Whiting]] appear to endorse the Chinese claim that Kongka Pass was the "traditional" boundary of Tibet.<ref name="wortzel">{{cite book |last=Wortzel |first=Larry |author-link=Larry Wortzel |editor1-last=Burkitt |editor1-first=Laurie |editor2-last=Scobell |editor2-first=Andrew |editor3-last=Wortzel |editor3-first=Larry |title=The Lessons of History: The Chinese People's Liberation Army at 75 |url=http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB52.pdf |year=2003 |publisher=[[Strategic Studies Institute]], [[U.S. Army War College]] |isbn=9781428916517 |page=331}}</ref><ref name="CHOC">{{cite book |last=Whiting |first=Allen S. |author-link=Allen S. Whiting |editor1-last=MacFarquhar |editor1-first=Roderick |editor1-link=Roderick MacFarquhar |editor2-last=Fairbank |editor2-first=John K. |editor2-link=John K. Fairbank |chapter=The Sino-Soviet Split |title=The Cambridge History of China, Volume 14 |year=1987 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-24336-0 |page=512}}</ref> Other scholars however point out the Chinese inconsistencies.<ref>
{{harvp|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963|p=101}}: "Confusion as to the extent of the Chang Chenmo valley between the Lanak and Kongka passes continued to be a feature of Chinese cartography even after the Communists came to power.... the flexibility shown by official Chinese cartographers here and on other sections of the border makes mockery of China's oft-repeated claim that its concept of the border has a solid basis in history."
</ref><ref>
{{citation |last1=Van Eekelen |first1=Willem Frederik |title=Indian Foreign Policy and the Border Dispute with China |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eTzBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 |year=1967 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-017-6555-8 |page=164 |quote="The Chinese could not quote a single document confirming that the Kongka Pass constituted the boundary.... The thorough approach of the Indian side generally contrasted with an inconsistent and almost careless presentation by the Chinese officials."}}
</ref>

{{clear}}

==Historical maps==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
File:The great plateau; being an account of exploration in Central Tibet, 1903, and of the Gartok expedition, 1904-1905 (1905) (14776461552).jpg|Map by [[Cecil Rawling]], showing Lanak La on the boundary in inset map (1905)
File:STANFORD(1917) p61 PLATE19. SINKIANG (14597194848).jpg|Map including Lanak La ([[Edward Stanford|Stanford]], 1917)
File:NI-44-06 Lungmu Co, China.jpg|Map including Lanak La ([[Defense Mapping Agency|DMA]], 1989)
File:Aksai detail.png|Map including Lanak La (labeled as ''La-na-k'o Shan-k'ou'', [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], 2013)
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of locations in Aksai Chin]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{citation |last1=Fisher |first1=Margaret W. |last2=Rose |first2=Leo E. |last3=Huttenback |first3=Robert A. |title=Himalayan Battleground: Sino-Indian Rivalry in Ladakh |date=1963 |publisher=Praeger |url=https://archive.org/details/himalayanbattleg0000unse/mode/2up |via=archive.org |ref={{sfnref|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963}}}}

==External links==
* [https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/289420920#map=8/34.685/79.286 Chang Chenmo River marked on OpenStreetMap]

{{Mountain passes of China}}

[[Category:Mountain passes of Tibet]]
[[Category:Ngari Prefecture]]
[[Category:Chang Chenmo Valley]]
[[Category:Borders of Ladakh]]

Lanak La - Revision history

->Kautilya3 at 23:12, 6 August 2021