As Chinese and Indian border patrols engaged in a tense face-off last month at Ladakh’s picturesque Pangong Lake, hurling stones and insults at each other, it showed how the remote Himalayan region is emerging as a volatile geopolitical flashpoint between Beijing and New Delhi.

India and China have never agreed the demarcation of their shared border in Buddhist-majority Ladakh, a sparsely populated border area that abuts Tibet. Tensions have risen sharply since the government of Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, separated Ladakh from the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir in a political reorganisation of the volatile region.

With Chinese President Xi Jinping set to visit India on Friday for an “informal summit” with Mr Modi, events in Ladakh have once again drawn attention to the countries’ deep-rooted rivalry.