Page "Sino-Indian War" Paragraph 8

The western portion of the Sino-Indian boundary originated in 1834, with the Sikh Confederation's conquest of Ladakh.

In 1842, the Sikh Confederacy, which at the time ruled over much of Northern India ( including the frontier regions of Jammu and Kashmir ), signed a treaty which guaranteed the integrity of its existing borders with its neighbours.

The British defeat of the Sikhs in 1846 resulted in transfer of sovereignty over Ladakh, part of the Jammu and Kashmir region, to the British, and British commissioners contacted Chinese officials to negotiate the border.

The boundaries at its two extremities, Pangong Lake and Karakoram Pass, were well defined, but the Aksai Chin area in between lay undefined.

claimed that Aksai Chin had been part of the Indian Ladakh region for centuries, and that the border ( as defined by the Johnson Line ) was non-negotiable.

According to George N. Patterson, when the Indian government finally produced a report detailing the alleged proof of India's claims to the disputed area, " the quality of the Indian evidence was very poor, including some very dubious sources indeed ".