India-China standoff: Land grab is a classic Beijing transgression and biggest test for New Delhi

The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is a 3,500 km long loose demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory in the India-China border area.

It subsequently referred to the line formed after the 1962 Sino-Indian War and is part of the Sino-Indian border dispute.

Over the years, there have been tensions at several points along this line of actual control. The June 15 skirmish was in Ladakh's Galwan valley.

Experts say -- it was the lack of a clear demarcation that allowed the Chinese to change its status quo. The Pangong Tso provides a classic example of this loophole.

Pangong Lake is located 13,900 feet above sea level. The line of actual control does not run through the land in this region.

It runs through the Pangong Lake and lake is 134 kilometers long.
2/3d of it is controlled by China. The mountains jut into the lake at eight different points.

These points are known as fingers, India claims that its territory goes up to finger 8. This is what India views as the line of actual control, Indian troops have been patrolling till this area — that is till finger 8 — for years now.

India has a post between finger 3 and finger 4.It is manned by the Indo Tibetan border police.

The Chinese follow a different lac, their line of actual control crosses the finger 2 and finger 3 points.

The PLA has posts and bases at finger 8. This was the status quo. China has unilaterally changed it.

In the last two months, China has occupied the land between finger 4 and finger 8.

It is an 8-km-long stretch, the PLA has set up bunkers, they have also built trenches, and boatsheds.

If satellite images are to be believed-- then China has built 500 structures in an area that does not belong to them and more structures are under construction.

The PLA has also blocked all Indian patrols beyond finger 4.The Chinese have changed the status quo.

And changed it unilaterally, and that is the crux of the problem. China does not want to clearly define the LAC and china has prevented all efforts to do so.

There have been multiple rounds of talks but Beijing doesn't want to define the border and keep grabbing land on the sly.