Experts say that new roads on the Indian side of the line may have rankled China.

Top Chinese and Indian generals are to meet in a Himalayan outpost on Saturday in a bid to end the latest frontier showdown between the world's two most populous nations that has seen thousands of troops sent to both sides.

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Ahead of the talks, here are the key points that have led to the dispute and the pitfalls as the two nations, who fought a 1962 border war and have clashed many times since, over the solution:

Fist-fights and handshakes at the frontier

On May 9 several Indian and Chinese troops were injured in fights with fists, stones and wooden batons in Sikkim state.

A Chinese soldier at a border post: the dividing line between India and China is more like a scar than a border.

Indian officials say that within days, Chinese troops had encroached on the Indian side of their demarcation line in the Ladakh region further to the west.

India has moved extra troops to positions opposite. The generals are to meet at a point near the face-off known as Chushul-Moldo for the highest-level talks since the fisticuffs, according to military sources.

A line out of control

Experts say that new roads on the Indian side of the line may have rankled China.

But the dividing line between India and China is more like a scar -- that includes a ceasefire Line of Actual Control -- than a border.

Regular clashes have followed and the rival sides staged a 73-day showdown in the Doklam Plateau in 2017.

They cannot even agree how long it is. India gives a figure of 3,500 kilometres (2,175 miles). China does not give a number, but state media says the border should be just 2,000km (1,250 miles) when China's claims in Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and other regions are taken into account.

Each side uses different frontier proposals made by Britain to China in the 19th century to back their claims.

Increasingly tense border talks and a series of skirmishes led to the 1962 war, mainly fought above 4,000 metres (14,000 feet), in which China took territory from India in Arunachal Pradesh.

Regular clashes have followed and the rival sides staged a 73-day showdown in the Doklam Plateau in 2017.

Agence France-Presse