The Sikkim patrol clash

India-China dispute is a complex, multi-layered wrangle across a sprawling 3,500 km-long border

The territorial and boundary dispute between India and China is a complex, historical, multi-layered wrangle across a sprawling 3,500 kilometre-long border. Yet, a relatively simple disagreement has brought patrols from both armies eyeball-to-eyeball on the Sikkim-Tibet border since June 16 and led to China blocking the travel of Indian pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar through the Nathu La border pass. At issue is sovereignty over a scenic, 4,000-metre-high pasture called Doklam — less than 100 square kilometres in spread. India claims that the Chumbi Valley, a dagger-shaped wedge of Chinese territory protruding southward from the Tibetan plateau, ends north of Doklam