The Line of Control which Never Was

China has recently triggered a controversy about an imaginary Line of Actual Control of 1959, which never existed.

If one goes through the Notes, Memoranda and letters Exchanged and Agreements signed
between The Governments of India and China, Part 2, (September - November 1959), also known as White Papers 2, where the entire correspondence between India and China has been made available by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, there is nowhere question of a 'Line of Actual Control' in 1959.

Ditto for the White Paper 3 November 1959 –March 1960.

China is only trying to create confusion on India by mentioning a Line which never existed.

Caption of the map published above
This map depicts the three lines which have figured most prominently in the correspondence between the Governments and Prime Ministers of India and China after the massive invasion of India which was launched by Chinese forces on October 20, 1962. The first line shows the disposition of Chinese posts in Ladakh in November 1959. It will be seen that at that time there was strictly speaking no "line of control" but only a series of Chinese posts on Indian territory. The November 1959 'line' would be one that joined the then Chinese posts at Spanggur Post, Khurnak Fort, Kongka Pass and Shamallungpa and ran northward, past Haji Langar, to join the Aksai Chin Road.
The second line shows the line of contact between Indian and Chinese forces immediately prior to September 8, 1962 - the date on which Chinese forces invaded Indian territory in the Eastern sector also. India has made the reasonable proposal that there should be a restoration of the positions along this line as the minimum condition for resumption of negotiations with China.
The third line shows the limits of the further area occupied by Chinese forces after the massive aggression which they launched against India, both in the Western and Eastern sectors on October 20, 1962. China now falsely claims that this was the line of actual control by Chinese forces in November 1959. Under the unilateral declaration of November 21, 1962, China has proposed that Indian and Chinese forces should withdraw 20 kilometres on either side of this tine, which they claim as the November 1959 line but which was actually reached by them only after their latest aggression.
The area between the September 7, 1962, line and the 'line of actual control of 1959' as falsely claimed by China represents the further aggrandisement of Indian territory by China as a result of its latest aggression. India insists that this area of further aggression should be vacated by the Chinese and the position of the Indian and Chinese forces prior to 8th September restored, before there can be a resumption of negotiations to settle the India-China boundary problem.

China kept its claims on Indian territory undisclosed till 1959 though it had already, in 1957, surreptitiously cleared a motor road across the uninhabited Aksai Chin area of Ladakh. Territorial claims were put forward for the first time by the Chinese Prime Minister in September 1959, based on a Chinese map published in 1956.  In December 1959 he affirmed the boundary on this map as the correct boundary claimed by China. This claim was for about 50,000 square miles of Indian territory in Ladakh and in the North East Frontier Agency. Since then the Chinese claim line has varied according to China's bargaining convenience and the progressively increasing extent of occupation of Indian territory through force.
The Chinese claim line of 1956 in the Western sector is shown in the above map. In 1960, during talks between officials of the two Governments, the Chinese advanced tl1eir claim line further into Indian territory. The 1960 claim line is also shown in the map. This line, which broadly corresponds to the line of present Chinese control shown in Map 2, was actually reached by the Chinese forces only after their latest massive aggression of October 20, 1962. China now falsely claims this as the line up to which it exercised actual control in November 1959.
The points up to which Indian police patrols went from time to time till 1958, in exercise of normal administrative functions, are shown in the above map. They reveal the preposterous nature of the 1956 Chinese claim line, let alone their latest claim line which cuts even deeper into Indian territory.