The Johnson Line
W. H. Johnson, a civil servant with the Survey of India proposed the "Johnson Line" in 1865, which put Aksai Chin in Kashmir.[7] This was the time of the Dungan revolt, when China did not control Xinjiang, so this line was never presented to the Chinese.[7] Johnson presented this line to the Maharaja of Kashmir, who then claimed the 18,000 square kilometres contained within,[7] and by some accounts territory further north as far as the Sanju Pass in the Kun Lun Mountains. Johnson's work was severely criticized for gross inaccuracies, with description of his boundary as "patently absurd".[8] Johnson was reprimanded by the British Government and resigned from the Survey.[7][8][9] The Maharajah of Kashmir apparently sent a few soldiers to man the abandoned fort at Shahidulla (modern-day Xaidulla) at one point, by the time most sources placed Shahidulla and the upper Karakash River firmly within the territory of Xinjiang (see accompanying map). According to Francis Younghusband, who explored the region in the late 1880s, there was only an abandoned fort and not one inhabited house at Shahidulla when he was there - it was just a convenient staging post and a convenient headquarters for the nomadic Kirghiz.[10] The abandoned fort had apparently been built a few years earlier by the Kashmiris.[11] In 1878 the Chinese had reconquered Xinjiang, and by 1890 they already had Shahidulla before the issue was decided.[7] By 1892, China had erected boundary markers at Karakoram Pass.[8]
In 1897 a British military officer, Sir John Ardagh, proposed a boundary line along the crest of the Kun Lun Mountains north of the Yarkand River.[12] At the time Britain was concerned at the danger of Russian expansion as China weakened, and Ardagh argued that his line was more defensible. The Ardagh line was effectively a modification of the Johnson line, and became known as the "Johnson-Ardagh Line".
The Macartney-Macdonald Line
In the 1890s Britain and China were allies and Britain was principally concerned that Aksai Chin not fall into Russian hands.[7] In 1899, when China showed an interest in Aksai Chin, Britain proposed a revised boundary, initially suggested by George Macartney,[8] which put most of Aksai Chin in Chinese territory.[7] This border, along the Karakoram Mountains, was proposed and supported by British officials for a number of reasons. The Karakoram Mountains formed a natural boundary, which would set the British borders up to the Indus River watershed while leaving the Tarim River watershed in Chinese control, and Chinese control of this tract would present a further obstacle to Russian advance in Central Asia.[9] The British presented this line to the Chinese in a Note by Sir Claude MacDonald. The Chinese did not respond to the Note, and the British took that as Chinese acquiescence.[7] This line, known as the Macartney-MacDonald line, is approximately the same as the current Line of Actual Control.[7]
1899 to 1947
Both the Johnson-Ardagh and the Macartney-MacDonald lines were used on British maps of India.[7] Until at least 1908, the British took the Macdonald line to be the boundary,[13] but in 1911, the Xinhai Revolution resulted in the collapse of central power in China, and by the end of World War I, the British officially used the Johnson Line. However they took no steps to establish outposts or assert actual control on the ground.[8] In 1927, the line was adjusted again as the government of British India abandoned the Johnson line in favor of a line along the Karakoram range further south.[8] However, the maps were not updated and still showed the Johnson Line.[8]
When British officials learned of Soviet officials surveying the Aksai Chin for Sheng Shicai, warlord of Xinjiang in 1940-1941, they again advocated the Johnson Line.[7] At this point the British had still made no attempts to establish outposts or control over the Aksai Chin, nor was the issue ever discussed with the governments of China or Tibet, and the boundary remained undemarcated at India's independence.[7][8]
Nay , I know it well enough not to misspell spellings and mistake things . I wasn't the one claiming the Aksai Chin to be in Pakistan's control ever .
