4 soldiers died in India border clash

Now the PLA Daily has published relevant reports and revealed the truth ... It is also a tribute to the bravery of the heroes and martyrs defending the country on the border.

CHINA, for the first time, on Friday released the information on the death of four People’s Liberation Army soldiers during a border clash with India last June.

In a detailed account of the clash published by PLA Daily on Friday, it was reported that in June last year, Indian soldiers crossed to the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control in Galwan Valley, set up tents and acted in violation of an agreement that the two sides had struck.

When the Chinese soldiers tried to negotiate with the Indian side, they were ambushed by Indian forces that far outnumbered them. Armed with steel pipes, clubs and rocks, the Indian soldiers launched an attack on the Chinese soldiers. A Chinese regimental commander suffered severe head injuries.

Three Chinese soldiers, who fought in the combat, died. Another soldier, on his way to provide support to the forces, drowned trying to cross a river.

At a press conference on Friday, Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, spokesperson of China’s Ministry of National Defense, said that the Indian army “was solely responsible” for the clash.

He said that the Indian side illegally crossed the LAC, launched the provocation and initiated the attack.

In order to mitigate tensions and avoid escalations, China acted with great restraint, he added, but the Indian side hyped up casualties.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a regular press conference on Friday: “Now the PLA Daily has published relevant reports and revealed the truth. I believe it will help people to understand the truth and the rights and wrongs of the events. It is also a tribute to the bravery of the heroes and martyrs defending the country on the border.”

She stressed that China always maintains a consistent position on resolving the border issue, and is always committed to properly resolving disputes through dialogue while maintaining peace and stability in the border area.

The revelation of the information came as the two sides tried to push for an early disengagement of the front-line troops.

China’s Ministry of National Defense yesterday said the 10th Round of China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting was held on Saturday on the Chinese side of the Moldo-Chushul border.

The two sides positively appraised the smooth completion of disengagement of front-line troops in the Bangong Lake area, noting that it was a significant step forward that provided a good basis for resolution of other remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of China-India border areas, according to a joint press release of the meeting.

Both sides agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, continue communication and dialogue, stabilize and control the situation on the ground, push for a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues in a steady and orderly manner, so as to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas, said the document.

The border rift appeared in April last year, when Indian border troops began building infrastructure facilities along the LAC in the Galwan Valley, a move that led to Beijing’s fierce protest.

Two scuffles took place shortly after and a round of commanderlevel meetings was held aiming to calm the situation. But hostilities resumed, leading to the deadly clash between the two sides in mid-June. The incident was the worst border clash in decades.

Hua Chunying

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson

RUSSIA has registered the first case of a strain of bird flu virus named A(H5N8) being passed to humans from birds and has reported the matter to the World Health Organization, Anna Popova, head of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Saturday.

Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and North Africa in recent months but so far only in poultry. Other strains — H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2 — have been known to spread to humans.

Russia reported the case of human infection to the WHO “several days ago, just as we became absolutely certain of our results,” Popova said on Rossiya 24 state TV. There was no sign yet of transmission between humans, she added.

Seven workers at a poultry plant in Russia’s south had been infected with the H5N8 strain in an outbreak at the plant in December, Popova said, adding that the individuals involved felt fine now. “This situation did not develop further,” she said.

In an email WHO’s European arm said it had been notified by Russia about a case of human infection with H5N8 and acknowledged this would, if confirmed, be the first time the strain had infected people.

“Preliminary information indicates that the reported cases were workers exposed to bird flocks,” the email said. “They were asymptomatic and no onward human to human transmission was reported.

“We are in discussion with national authorities to gather more information and assess the public health impact of this event,” the email added.

Russia’s Vektor State Virology and Biotechnology Center, which detected the transmission to the poultry farm workers, also developed one of the country’s several coronavirus vaccines.

In televised remarks, Vektor chief Rinat Maksyutov said the lab was ready to begin developing test kits that would help detect potential cases of H5N8 in humans and to begin work on a vaccine.

The majority of human bird flu infections have been associated with direct contact with infected live or dead poultry, though properly cooked food is considered to be safe.

Bird flu outbreaks often prompt poultry plants to kill their birds to prevent the virus from spreading, and avoid importing countries having to impose trade restrictions.

Siberia’s Vector Institute said it would start developing human tests and a vaccine against H5N8.