Lanak La had been a well-established frontier point between Ladakh and Tibet, as confirmed by travellers from William Moorcroft in 1820 onwards.

[2] Several travellers wrote in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the traditional boundary between India and Tibet was at Lanak La.

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.

In October that year, as an Indian border patrol party was attempting to set up posts in the vicinity of the Kongka Pass,[17][18] they were ambushed by Chinese troops, killing some of them and taking others prisoner.

[18] 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.