Jianan Pass

The Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China runs through the pass dividing the Indian-administered Ladakh and Chinese-administered Aksai Chin.

While China uses the name "Jianan Daban" for the pass, India refers to it as Patrol Point 15 (PP-15) for border security purposes.

India set up an advance post to the north of the Jianan Pass in 1962, near the Galwan Valley, which caused an "apogee of tension".

The Kugrang valley did form a popular hunting area for British officers vacationing in Ladakh.

[10][11] After India became independent in 1947 and China took control of Tibet in 1950, both the countries laid claim to the Aksai Chin plateau.

In its 1956 border definition, China claimed Lingzithang Plains up to the campsite of Samzungling in the upper Galwan Valley.

(Map 3) Not recognising Chinese claims to Aksai Chin, India continued to send border patrols in "all directions".

A platoon of the company then moved towards Galwan in July 1962, after setting up a post near Gogra (then called "nullah junction").

China provided the coordinates of the post and described it as "six kilometres inside Chinese territory in the Galwan Valley area".

[16] Despite a seriously threatening posture by the Chinese troops, the post held firm and remained intact until the beginning of the war in October 1962.

[a] Over a thousand Chinese soldiers are reported to have crossed the LAC at Jianan Pass and India said to have carried out a "mirror deployment" of its own troops.

According to later reports, the majority of the troops at the Jianan Pass were withdrawn by July 2020, but a "small detachment" of about 50 soldiers remained.

[32] It took several months and 10 rounds of talks between the military commanders to agree on the first pull-back in February 2021, at the Pangong Lake.

In April 2022, during the visit of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to New Delhi, a proposal was apparently made that the Indian troops should move back to the "Karam Singh Post", which is near the mouth of the Kugrang River, at over 30 km distance from the Jianan Pass.

It was stated the LAC in the area would be strictly observed by both the sides and that there would be no unilateral change in the status quo.

[6][36] NDTV published satellite imagery a few days later, confirming that the Chinese PLA had moved their post north of the pass to a location 3 km downstream along the Shimengou river.

[37] The LAHDC Councillor from Chushul, Konchok Stanzin, informed the media that the Indian post at the mouth of the Jianan Valley (referred to as "PP 16") was also moved.

[39] While the External Affairs Ministry announcement only mentioned that the LAC would be strictly observed, most media commentators interpreted the withdrawals as creating a "buffer zone".

Map 1: Changchenmo Valley, with its branch valleys of Kugrang and Changlung. The Jianan Pass (unmarked) is to the west of the Changlung P[ass], and the source of the Changlung river. (Survey of India, 1916)
Map 2: Galwan river basin and the Jianan Pass to its south
Map 3: Chinese claim lines near the Galwan and Kugrang basins: green line in 1956, dark brown/orange in 1960. The light blue line links the Chinese posts believed to have been set up in 1959; the purple line links the Chinese advances in 1960. (US Army HQ, 1962)
Map 5: LAC at the Jianan Pass: The line marked by the US Office of the Geographer in 2013 (in blue) and that marked by OpenStreetMap in 2022 (in green). The US line passes through the assumed location of the pass; the OpenStreetMap line passes through a trench that became visible in 2015 satellite imagery. [ 27 ]