FACTBOX - India, China's old border dispute

REUTERS - The Dalai Lama, branded by China as a separatist began a week-long visit to Arunachal Pradesh, also claimed by Beijing as the two countries struggle to settle a border dispute.

Here are key details about their border dispute:

* The Asian giants still claim vast swathes of each other's territory along their 3,500 km (2,173 mile) Himalayan border, which has remained largely peaceful since a border war in 1962.

* The border was never demarcated. In the years before Indian independence in 1947, the former British colonial rulers saw little need to demarcate such a remote area and later the two sides were unable to agree on a common border.

* In 1958, China published a map showing the Aksai Chin plateau on the western stretch of the border as part of its territory; India protested.

* Border skirmishes escalated into a full-scale war in 1962 after India said China occupied 38,000 square km (15,000 square miles) of territory in Aksai Chin.

* Chinese troops overran Indian military positions in Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh before a ceasefire. China withdrew to pre-war positions behind the McMahon line dividing the two countries along Arunachal Pradesh.

The ceasefire line became known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

* India says Beijing is illegally holding 5,180 sq km of northern Kashmir ceded to it by Pakistan in 1963.