Demchok or "New Demchok" is a small village and military emcampment in the Indian-administered part of the disputed Demchok sector south of Aksai Chin

Aksai Chin

Aksai Chin is one of the two main disputed border areas between China and India, and the other is South Tibet, which comprises most of India's Arunachal Pradesh. It is administered by China as part of Hotan County in the Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, but is also claimed by India...

, in the Ladakh

Ladakh

Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...

 district of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The Line of Actual Control

Line of Actual Control

The Line of Actual Control is the effective border between India and People's Republic of China . The LAC is 4,057-km long and traverses three areas of northern Indian states: western , middle and eastern...

 (LAC) passes along the southeast side of the village, following a wadi just upstream from the nearby Indus River

Indus River

The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...

. Across the wadi, less than a kilometer away, is the Chinese-administered village, called Dêmqog

Dêmqog, Ngari Prefecture

Dêmqog is a very small village in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies at an altitude of 5009 metres . The combined Chinese-Indian village has a population of about 150....

, in the Ngari Prefecture

Ngari Prefecture

Ngari Prefecture is a prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Its capital is Gar County. Its regional headquarters is in the town of Purang. The biggest town is Ali. It includes part of the Aksai Chin area, a disputed region claimed by India but over which China exercises administrative...

 within Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

. This village was on an old route linking Ladakh and Tibet, currently closed. The village lies 36.5 km east of Ukdungle

Ukdungle

Ukdungle is a small settlement in Leh District, Jammu and Kashmir in northern India near the border with Tibet. It lies only 22.7 miles south-west of Dêmqog, Ngari Prefecture in western Tibet. Hanle Observatory and Demchok village on LAC are close by. It is the highest city in India-External links:*...

.

Though the Kailash Mansarovar is 300 km away, the route there is mostly through plains and there is demand to improve and open a road linking China and India through Demchok.