Stretching from the strategic Karakoram Pass, near Pakistan in the north, the LAC runs south, along the ridges of the eastern Himalayas to the ancient Buddhist monastery town of Tawang. After that, it traces the old McMahon Line drawn in 1914 – and rejected by China as an imperial dictate – to demarcate British India from what was then Tibet.
实际控制线从北接巴基斯坦、具有战略重要性的喀喇昆仑山口开始向南，沿着东喜马拉雅山起伏的山脊一直延伸到佛教香火兴盛的达旺（Tawang），然后与1941年划定的麦克马洪线回合。麦克马洪线是英属印度与当时的西藏的分界线，中国不承认这条线，认为它是帝国主义强加的。接着，实际控制线一直延伸到中国、印度和缅甸的交界处。