High-Altitude Stakes in the Himalayas: China-India Boundary Dispute

Abstract. The more than half-century old boundary dispute between China and India is a complex and fraught standoff between the two most populous nations over some of the most inhospitable and least populated land on Earth. The disagreement can be traced back in part to early twentieth-century maps prepared by British Foreign Secretary Henry McMahon demarcating the border between British India and Tibet for the 1913–1914 Shimla Convention. Challenging and oftentimes inaccessible terrain complicated efforts to accurately survey the Himalayas. The result was less precise boundary demarcation and mapping, the consequences of which continue to drive a wedge between China-India relations today. The geography and mapping of this unique alpine environment has shaped regional geopolitics for more than a century and will continue influencing diplomacy going forward.