Beijing on diplomatic charge amid pullback
China says it lost four soldiers in Galwan, leaks selective clips of clash, hopes ‘India has learnt its lesson’
BEIJING: On a day when it finally admitted that it had suffered casualties at Galwan, China on Friday launched a renewed push to blame India both for tensions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the deadly clash last year, releasing several videos that sought to portray Indian troops as trespassers and aggressors.
The move came after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily released details for the first time of four soldiers who were killed, and an officer who was injured in the clash at Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020. It is extremely rare for the Chinese military to publicly acknowledge casualties – for instance, it is yet to release official casualty figures for the war with Vietnam in 1979.
China’s defence and foreign ministries issued statements that pinned the blame for the death of Chinese soldiers at Galwan Valley on India. Twenty Indian soldiers were also killed in that clash, when troops from both sides fought for hours with iron rods, clubs covered with barbed wire and rocks. These were the first fatalities on the LAC since 1975.
Experts questioned the timing of the release of the official statements and videos portraying India as the aggressor, just hours ahead of the 10th round of talks between military commanders at Moldo on the Chinese side of the LAC on Saturday. The talks are meant to take forward the disengagement process following the drawdown of forces and armoured vehicles by both sides on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Lake. Some analysts also questioned the veracity of the Chinese numbers.
China’s state media featured the videos and emotionally charged articles, urging citizens to remember the “martyrs” and recounting how four PLA soldiers sacrificed their lives while defending the western borders. The four soldiers and PLA regimental commander Qi Fabao, who was seriously injured in the clash, received military honours, the state media announced, citing the Central Military Commission (CMC).
The title of “border-defending hero” was posthumously conferred on battalion commander Chen Hongjun, while Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran posthumously received a “first-class merit”.