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Line of Actual Control
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<p>The Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the context of the <a href="/facts/Sino-Indian_border_dispute/c8QSbbqv">Sino-Indian border dispute</a>, is a notional <a href="/facts/Demarcation_line/4lB0eUB8">demarcation line</a> that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory. The concept was introduced by Chinese premier <a href="/facts/Zhou_Enlai/kYYVkmrX">Zhou Enlai</a> in a 1959 letter to <a href="/facts/Jawaharlal_Nehru/et3I8NGT">Jawaharlal Nehru</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Sino-Indian_War/UPF3RfjN">1962 Sino-Indian War</a>. </p><p>The LAC is different from the borders claimed by each country in the Sino-Indian border dispute. The Indian claims include the entire <a href="/facts/Aksai_Chin/RTmAwYCW">Aksai Chin</a> region and the Chinese claims include <a href="/facts/Arunachal_Pradesh/4rrSKgGE">Arunachal Pradesh</a>/<a href="/facts/South_Tibet/egGky76z">Zangnan</a>. These claims are not included in the concept of "actual control". </p><p>The LAC is generally divided into three sectors: </p> <ul><li>the western sector between <a href="/facts/Ladakh/ekL17WAx">Ladakh</a> on the Indian side and the <a href="/facts/Tibet_Autonomous_Region/IqQyXKT8">Tibet</a> and <a href="/facts/Xinjiang/f3jxW5Sq">Xinjiang</a> autonomous regions on the Chinese side. This sector was the location of the <a href="/facts/2020_China%25E2%2580%2593India_skirmishes/RSQNEpDR">2020 China–India skirmishes</a>.</li> <li>the middle sector between <a href="/facts/Uttarakhand/n3juS1z4">Uttarakhand</a> and <a href="/facts/Himachal_Pradesh/QL08g221">Himachal Pradesh</a> on the Indian side and the Tibet autonomous region on the Chinese side.</li> <li>the eastern sector between <a href="/facts/Arunachal_Pradesh/4rrSKgGE">Arunachal Pradesh</a>/<a href="/facts/South_Tibet/egGky76z">Zangnan</a> on the Indian side and the Tibet autonomous region on the Chinese side. This sector generally follows the <a href="/facts/McMahon_Line/s7KngM90">McMahon Line</a>.</li></ul> <p>The term "line of actual control" originally referred only to the boundary in the western sector after the <a href="/facts/Sino-Indian_War/UPF3RfjN">1962 Sino-Indian War</a>, but during the 1990s came to refer to the entire de facto border. </p>