There are several disputed territories of India. A territorial dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more sovereign states or over the possession or control of land by a new state and occupying power after it has conquered the land from a former state no longer currently recognized by the new state.

India faces territorial issues with some of its neighbours – the People's Republic of China, Pakistan and Nepal.. The dispute with China also involves the Republic of China based in Taiwan. India has resolved its un-demarcated border with Bhutan, which included multiple irregularities. India also resolved its border disputes with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Current disputes China

The territorial disputes between India and China result from the historical consequences of colonialism in Asia and the lack of clear historical boundary demarcations. There was one historical attempt to set a proposed boundary, the McMahon Line, by Great Britain during the 1913-1914 Simla Convention. The Republic of China rejected the proposed boundary. The unresolved dispute over the boundary became contentious after India gained its independence and the People's Republic of China was established. The disputed borders are complicated by the lack of administrative presence in the disputed areas, which are remote..

Sino-Indian border

Two governments claim to be the legitimate Chinese government, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC; commonly called "Taiwan"). They do not recognise the legitimacy of each other. The PRC has actual control of its areas on the India-China border, while the ROC currently has no shared land or maritime border with India. Their views are presented below. The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is presently the operational border between India and the PRC.

People's Republic of China's position

The Depsang Plains are located on the border of the Indian union territory of Ladakh and the disputed zone of Aksai Chin. The Chinese Army controls most of the plains,. while India controls the western portion of the plains.. The dispute remains unresolved..

Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India created on 20 January 1972, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by China, by whom it South Tibet. The northern border of Arunachal Pradesh reflects the McMahon Line, a line demarcated by the 1914 Simla Convention between the United Kingdom and the Tibetan government. The Simla Convention was never accepted by the Chinese government, and it was also considered invalid by Tibetans due to unmet conditions specified in the treaty.. The boundary was not broadly enforced by the Indian government until 1950. Currently, this territory is administered by India...

Republic of China's position Throughout the Cold War, the Government of the Republic of China had the same understanding of the China-India border dispute as the PRC. In 1962, the ROC's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that they did not recognise the legality of the McMahon Line. The same year western countries increased pressure on the ROC leader Chiang Kai-shek to recognise the legality of the McMahon Line in order to isolate Beijing. However, Chiang dismissed the McMahon Line as an "imperialist imposition on China". In February 1987, India's move to elevate the status of "Arunachal centrally administered region" to the state of Arunachal Pradesh was declared null and void by the ROC's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry, in a formal statement, stated that it did not recognise the "illegal occupation" of ROC territory south of the McMahon Line and that the establishment of "Arunachal Pradesh state" was an illegal act. In 1995, Ambassador Teng Pei-Yin (the ROC's first representative to India) in response to an Indian member of parliament, stated that the ROC did not recognise the McMahon Line. However, the ROC has not made any statement on the China-India dispute since..

Disputed areas

The Chinese Military has an integrated Western Theater Command across the entire border with India.. The Indian Military has divided the Line of Actual Control into 3 sectors – the western sector across Ladakh and the Chinese-held Aksai Chin, the central sector across Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and the eastern sector across Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.. Similarly, the Indian Airforce has a New Delhi-based Western Air Command, a Prayagraj-based Central Air Command, and a Shillong-based Eastern Air Command with several AFS (Air Force Stations/Bases), AGL (Advanced Landing Ground airports) and helipads to cover the LAC.

List of disputed areas from west to east along the India-China border:.

Disputed area Administrative Controlled by Airbases / AGLs Comments / Geostrategic context India China India China Trans-Karakoram Tract (Shaksgam) Ladakh (Leh district) Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region China (since 1963) Daulat Beg Oldi Ceded to China in 1963 by Pakistan subject to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute with India..... Aksai Chin China Daulat Beg Oldi AGL, Leh Airport Demchok sector Tibet Autonomous Region (Ngari Prefecture) India and China south and north of the Indus River respectively. FukcheIndia plans AGL strips, Deccan Herald, 2014. Chumar (2 separate noncontiguous Chumur North and Chumur South subsectors) Tibet Autonomous Region India Nyoma, Padum AGL, helipad at Chumur. Kaurik Himachal Pradesh (Lahaul and Spiti district) Chinyalisaur Airport AGL, Pathankot Airport Tashigang-Shipki La Himachal Pradesh (Kinnaur district) Shipki La, with an Indian military post, is an important pass for trade.. Sang-Nelang-Pulam Sumda Uttarakhand (Uttarkashi district) Area also covers Jadhang village. Barahoti Uttarakhand (Chamoli district) Chinyalisaur AGL, Pithoragarh Airport AGL Area also covers Lapthal, Sangcha Malla, Silakang villages. Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Tawang AFS and 7 AGLsIAF to have seven AGL in Arunachal Pradesh, Economic Times, 2018. (Aalo, Mechuka, Pasighat, Tuting, Vijoynagar, Walong, Ziro). Most of the state is claimed by China.

Within the geostrategic context of disputes between India and China, the disputes over Doklam and the Ten Degree Channel and South China Sea shipping lanes are also relevant. Doklam is a dispute between Bhutan and China near the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction. India has sided with Bhutan in the dispute.. The area is of strategic importance to all three countries.. Doklam lies close to India's Siliguri "Chickenneck" Corridor where a Chinese military advance of less than would cut off Bhutan, part of West Bengal and all of Northeast India, an area containing almost 50 million people. This scenario arose during the war between India and China in 1962.Partha S. Ghosh, "Cooperation and Conflict in South Asia", UPL, Dhaka, 1989, p. 43. India has embarked on a slew of Northeastern India connectivity projects to create multiple alternatives to the Silliguri corridor, including through Bangladesh, National Waterways and seaports, to mitigate the risk of being cut off.

The world's busiest Sea line of communication (SLOC) passes through the Strait of Malacca and the Ten Degree Channel in the exclusive economic zone of India, a region protected by India's Andaman and Nicobar Command. It is a geostrategic choke point for China since over 94,000 merchant ships travel through every year, carrying 40% of the world's freight trade between China and other nations., Future Directions org, 15 June 2017. US$5 trillion in annual shipping trade passes through the SLOC and choke points of Southeast Asia and the South China Sea (SCS).More muscle for India's Andaman and Nicobar defence posts to counter hawkish China, Hindustan Times, 26 August 2017. 80% of global trade passes through the Indian Ocean SLOC in the form of oil and natural gas critical for advanced economies.Australia's own Indo-Pacific fortress – The case for redeveloping Cocos Islands, Defence Connect, 28 May 2019. India, Australia, Japan and the United States have comprised the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) to contain China as part of their Indo-Pacific strategy..Chellaney, Brahma. "Different playbooks aimed at balancing Asia's powers". The Japan Times, 3 November 2008 (originally published by the BBC Monitoring South Asia).Ching, Frank, "Asian Arc of Democracy".Twining, Daniel, "The new Asian order's challenge to China", Financial Times, 26 September 2007.

Pakistan

Kashmir

The conflict over Kashmir is primarily between India and Pakistan, with China largely playing a third-party role... Conflict started after the partition of India in 1947, as both India and Pakistan initially claimed the entirety of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. In 1963, Pakistan recognized Chinese sovereignty over the Trans-Karakoram Tract and Aksai Chin. India controls 70% of Kashmir's population and approximately 55% of its land area including Jammu, Kashmir Valley, most of Ladakh, and Siachen Glacier.. Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land including Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. China controls the remaining 15% of the land, including Aksai Chin and the mostly uninhabited Trans-Karakoram Tract, as well as part of the Demchok sector.......

Sir Creek Sir Creek is a 96 km (60 mi) tidal estuary in the uninhabited marshlands of the Indus River Delta on the border between India and Pakistan. It flows into the Arabian Sea and separates Gujarat state in India from Sindh province in Pakistan. The long-standing India-Pakistan Sir Creek border dispute stems from the demarcation "from the mouth of Sir Creek to the top of Sir Creek, and from the top of Sir Creek eastward to a point on the line designated on the Western Terminus"... From this point onward, the boundary is unambiguously fixed as defined by the Tribunal Award of 1968..

Junagadh and Manavadar In a new political map released in 2020, Pakistan claimed the former princely states of Junagadh and Manavadar....

Nepal

Major areas of dispute between India and Nepal are Kalapani, Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, Susta, Mechi, and Tanakpur.. An estimated 60,000 hectares of border land is currently disputed between India and Nepal.

Kalapani territory The dispute over Kalapani has its origins in the implementation of the Treaty of Sugauli (1816), which established the Kali River as Nepal's western boundary with India. In 1817, the Nepali governor Bam Shah claimed that the western branch of the headwaters (the Kuthi Yankti, which carries the larger volume of water) should be considered the main stream of the Kali, and that the boundary should therefore follow it — which would place the villages of Kunti and Nabhi inside Nepal. The claim was investigated by surveyor Captain W. S. Webb and Commissioner G. W. Traill, who reported that the eastern stream from the Kalapani springs had always been recognised as the main branch by the local Bhotia inhabitants. The Governor-General Lord Moira rejected the claim in September 1817. The boundary question remained dormant for nearly two centuries until Nepal revived it in the 1990s during debates over the Mahakali Treaty (1996).

The disputed area falls within the historical Byans region, which was part of Kumaon before the Gorkha conquest of 1791 and was divided between British India and Nepal by the Treaty of Sugauli. India has administered the area continuously, with a State Police post established at Kalapani in 1956 and an Indo-Tibetan Border Police post since 1979.