Chepzi གྲི་ཕུ་ཆེ Dripuche, Zhipuqi | |
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Village and military post | |
Coordinates: 32°34′35″N78°36′30″E / 32.5764°N 78.6083°E | |
Country | China |
Autonomous region | Tibet |
Prefecture | Ngari |
County | Zanda |
Elevation | 5,100 m (16,700 ft) |
Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
Chepzi, also spelt Chabji [1] and Dripuche, [lower-alpha 1] (Tibetan : གྲི་ཕུ་ཆེ, Wylie : gri phu che, THL : dri pu ché) [3] is a village and military post in Tsamda County (Zanda County) of Tibet in China, close to the border with India's Ladakh. Chepzi is close to Chumar in Ladakh's Rupshu region. There is evidence that the people of Chumar have traditionally used the farmlands in Chepzi, and the village was included in Ladakh during the British Raj. However, independent India excluded it from its border definition. The border has been witness to a large number of incursions by the Chinese People's Liberation Army since 2011. [4] [5]
Chepzi | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 支 普 齊 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 支 普 齐 | ||||||
Hanyu Pinyin | Zhīpǔqí | ||||||
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Chepzi is on the bank of the Pare Chu river,close to Tibet's border with Ladakh. The Pare Chu river originates in India's Himachal Pradesh,flows through Ladakh,turns southeast near Chumar to flow into what the British called the 'Tsotso district' (present day Tsosib Sumkyil Township). After flowing there for about 80 miles,Pare Chu reenters Himachal Pradesh again to join the Spiti River. The British also observed that the 'Tsotso district' was the most populous area in the basin of Pare Chu. [6]
Near Chepzi,two tributaries join Pare Chu:the Kyumsalung Panglung (or simply Panglung) stream from the east,and the Chepzilung (or simply Chepzi) stream from the west. The Chepzilung originates below the Gya Peak,a key point on the border between Spiti (Himachal Pradesh) and Tibet. [7] According to the map drawn by Frederic Drew,who worked as a geologist in the administration of Jammu and Kashmir,these two tributaries were border rivers of Ladakh. The notes to the map provided by him state that the subjects of Jammu and Kashmir grazed their cattle in the pasture-lands up to the boundary,while the subjects of Tibet did likewise on their side. [8] [9] (Map 2)
By the time of Indian independence in 1947,the Indians appear to have conceded part of the valley of Chepzilung to the Tibetans. [lower-alpha 2] When independent India defined its boundaries in 1954,it also withdrew from the Panglung river to the east of Chepzi,and set the watershed ridge as the boundary. On the Pare Chu river itself,the Indian-defined border is 5 miles south of the Ladakhi village of Chumar,which is approximately 2 miles north of Chepzi. [11] This allows the Tibetan graziers unrestricted access to both the tributary rivers of Pare Chu at Chepzi.
The combined effect of these decisions gave the appearance of a "bulge" in Indian territory near the Pare Chu river. The Indian government justified it on the grounds that the Ladakh's inhabitants had traditionally used the grazing lands along Pare Chu right up to Chepzi. [12]
The people of Chumar claim to have continued using the farmland and grazing grounds at Chepzi until the recent past. They claim that their access to these lands has been blocked by the People's Liberation Army in recent years. [13] [14] The Indian Army has said that the Chepzi grazing grounds were "beyond the Indian borders." [2] But the locals are adamant that the Army does not understand their traditional grazing systems. [15]
In the 1960 boundary talks with India,China claimed a boundary north of the Indian claim line. However it was still south of the general ridge line running across the Pare Chu valley. [16]
By 2012,China was claiming a boundary further north,representing a "bulge" of its own territory,as shown in the United States Office of the Geographer's boundary datasets. (Map 3)
Chepzi used to be the farthest duty point for the 'hill frontier defence company' in the Ari Army Division. The closest army station used to be 720 km away with 16 mountain passes along the way. Up until 2009,the Army Aviation Force of the Xinjiang Military Command used to airdrop supplies to the PLA troops at Chepzi. According to a report of Sina Military,PLA troops could not be permanently stationed there at that time. [17]
In 2011,the PLA established a border defence company in Manza,which is about 140 km away within the 'Tsotso' district. [17] A Chepzi Highway linking Chepzi to the provincial road Y706 has also been constructed. In March 2014,the Zanda Border Battalion commander Qi Fabao has been stationed in Chepzi. [17]
According to a report in Sina Military, the Indian Army constructed "fortifications" at Chumar in 2011 and it was said that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) demolished them when the Indian troops withdrew for winter. [17] Indian media stated that loose stones had been assembled into the shape of "bunkers" by the soldiers at a location near the border, some 200–300 metres into Indian territory. [lower-alpha 3] The PLA personnel arrived in helicopters and dismantled them over a period of 20–25 minutes. Indian media described the event as a "shocker". [4]
Since this time, it is said that helicopter incursions by the PLA have occurred almost every year. [19]
In April 2013, a major standoff occurred at Depsang Bulge in northern Ladakh (some 500 km to the north), where the Chinese troops intruded 19 km into Indian territory near Burtsa and pitched tents for three weeks. As a condition for their withdrawal, they demanded the dismantling of a tin shed set up by the local Indian commander at Chumar at the patrol point called "30 R", which is said to be virtually on the Line of Actual Control. India conceded the demand. [20] [21] The Chinese commentators described the tactic as "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao". [17]
Within a few months, the PLA troops were back at the border and cut the wires for the Indian surveillance cameras at the border. [19] In December 2013, they were reported to have intruded into Indian territory again and apprehended five Indian herders along with their cattle. This was reported to have occurred 5 km inside the Indian territory. [5]
A major standoff at the Chumar border itself occurred in 2014. According to the Indian government sources, more than 200 PLA troops arrived at the border along with twelve heavy vehicles, cranes and bulldozers, trying to construct a road into the Indian territory. The Indian troops confronted them and asked them to withdraw, which resulted in as many as seven face-offs. Some 15–20 metres of temporary track laid by the Chinese troops was demolished by the Indians. The standoff escalated with more than 1000 troops arrayed on each side. The confrontation ended only after the foreign ministers of the two countries met and agreed that there would be no road-laying or fresh construction in the areas claimed by both the sides. [22]
The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispute. Fighting occurred along India's border with China, in India's North-East Frontier Agency east of Bhutan, and in Aksai Chin west of Nepal.
The Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the context of the Sino-Indian border dispute, is a notional demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory. The concept was introduced by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai in a 1959 letter to Jawaharlal Nehru as the "line up to which each side exercises actual control", but rejected by Nehru as being incoherent. Subsequently, the term came to refer to the line formed after the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
Ladakh is an administrative territory of India that has been under its control since 1947. The geographical region of Ladakh union territory is the highest altitude plateau region in India, incorporating parts of the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus River and valley.
The Sino–Indian border dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute over the sovereignty of two relatively large, and several smaller, separated pieces of territory between China and India. The first of the territories, Aksai Chin, is administered by China and claimed by India; it is mostly uninhabited high-altitude wasteland but with some significant pasture lands at the margins. It lies at the intersection of Kashmir, Tibet and Xinjiang, and is crossed by China's Xinjiang-Tibet Highway; the other disputed territory is south of the McMahon Line, in the area formerly known as the North-East Frontier Agency and now a state called Arunachal Pradesh. It is administered by India and claimed by China. The McMahon Line was signed between British India and Tibet to form part of the 1914 Simla Convention, but the latter was never ratified by China. China disowns the McMahon Line agreement, stating that Tibet was not independent when it signed the Simla Convention.
Daulat Beg Oldi is a traditional campsite and current military base located in the midst of the Karakoram Range in northern Ladakh, India. It is on the historic trade route between Ladakh and the Tarim Basin, and is the last campsite before the Karakoram Pass. It is said to be named after Sultan Said Khan of the Yarkent Khanate, who died here on his return journey from an invasion of Ladakh and Kashmir. Chip Chap River, the main headwater of the Shyok River, flows just to the south. The Line of Actual Control with Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin is five miles to the east.
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Fukche Advanced Landing Ground is an airfield in the Demchok sector of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It was built shortly before the 1962 Sino-Indian War and was revived in 2008. It is located adjacent to Koyul, 34 km northwest of Demchok.
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The Chip Chap River is a tributary of the Shyok River that flows from the disputed Aksai Chin region administered by China to Ladakh in India. It originates at the eastern edge of the Depsang Plains and flows west, skirting around the Depsang Plains in the north. It discharges into the Shyok River, forming one of the upstream tributaries of the Indus River.
Chumar or Chumur is a village and the centre of nomadic grazing region located in south-eastern Ladakh, India. It is in Rupshu block, south of the Tso Moriri lake, on the bank of the Parang River, close to Ladakh's border with Tibet. Since 2012, China has disputed the border in this area, though the Chumur village itself is undisputed.
Demchok , previously called New Demchok, and called Parigas by the Chinese, is a village and military encampment in the Indian-administered Demchok sector, that is disputed between India and China. It is administered as part of the Nyoma tehsil in the Leh district of Ladakh by India, and claimed by China as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
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The Demchok sector is a disputed area named after the villages of Demchok in Ladakh and Demchok in Tibet, situated near the confluence of the Charding Nullah and Indus River. It is a part of the greater Sino-Indian border dispute between China and India. Both China and India claim the disputed region, with a Line of Actual Control between the two nations situated along the Charding Nullah.
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The Parang River, also called Para River and Pare Chu is an upstream tributary of the Sutlej River, that originates in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and ends in Himachal Pradesh again, but flows through Ladakh and Tibet before doing so. The origin of the river is near the Parang La pass in the Spiti subdistrict. After its circuitous journey, it joins the Spiti River near Sumdo in Himachal Pradesh and the combined river then joins Sutlej.
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The Depsang Bulge or Burtsa Bulge is a 900-square-kilometre area of mountain terrain in the disputed Aksai Chin region, which was conceded to India by China in 1960, but has remained under Chinese occupation since the 1962 Sino-Indian War. The area is immediately to the south of the Depsang Plains and encloses the basin of the Burtsa Nala, a stream originating in the Aksai Chin region and flowing west to merge with the Depsang Nala near the village of Burtsa in Ladakh, eventually draining into the Shyok River. The area is perceived to be of strategic importance to both the countries, sandwiched by strategic roads linking border outposts. Since 2013, China has made attempts to push the Line of Actual Control further west into Indian territory, threatening India's strategic road.
Gogra (also referred to as Nala Junction) is a pasture and campsite in the Ladakh union territory of India, near the Line of Actual Control with China. It is located in the Kugrang River valley, a branch valley of Chang Chenmo Valley, where the Changlung River flows into Kugrang. During the times of the British Raj, Gogra was a halting spot for travellers to Central Asia via the 'Chang Chenmo route', who proceeded through the Changlung river valley and the Aksai Chin plateau.
Jianan Pass is a mountain pass in the eastern Karakoram Range near the Chang Chenmo Valley. The Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China runs through the pass dividing the Indian-administered Ladakh and Chinese-administered Aksai Chin. The pass lies on the watershed between Kugrang and Galwan river basins. The Changlung river basin is also immediately to the east of the pass. While China uses the name "Jianan Daban" for the pass, India refers to it as Patrol Point 15 (PP-15) for border security purposes. The term "Hot Springs" has also been used by Indian media through misapplication of terminology.
Tsosib Sumkyil or Churup Sumkhel is the westernmost township of the Zanda County in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet region of China. It borders India's Spiti region in Himachal Pradesh as well as Rupshu region in Ladakh. The region is watered by the Pare Chu river, a tributary of the Spiti River and an upstream tributary of the Sutlej river. China has ongoing border disputes with India for the southwestern border of the region near Kaurik and the northern border near Chumar.