Eight months after the deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops at the Galwan valley, China for the first time has admitted that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) lost four of its soldiers. The same was disclosed in a report by state-controlled People’s Daily.
“Four Chinese soldiers, who were sacrificed in last June’s border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations, Central Military Commission announced Friday. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with an honorary title”, People’s Daily handle tweeted on Friday.
A week after the clashes, China admitted there were few casualties on their side too but said the numbers were not too high. It also argued it’s holding back the numbers to avoid the flaring up of sentiments.
Giving the names of the soldiers killed, another mouthpiece of the CCP Global Times reported, “The Central Military Commission awarded Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, the title of “Hero regimental commander for defending the border,” Chen Hongjun with “Hero to defend the border,” and awarded the first-class merit to Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran.”
The Global Times report said, “The awards process also revisited the whole incident – how the Indian military deployed a large number of soldiers who premeditatedly hid, trying to force the Chinese military to concede. How the Chinese soldiers defended the sovereignty of the country amid attacks of steel tubes, cudgels and stones was also highlighted.”
45 Chinese soldiers killed in Galwan: Russian news agency TASS
Russian news agency TASS earlier this month in a report on the India and China troop disengagement at Ladakh had said that China’s PLA lost 45 soldiers in the Galwan Valley clash last year.
According to the TASS report, “Chinese and Indian forces clashed in the region in May and June 2020, resulting in at least 20 Indian and 45 Chinese servicemen dead. Following these incidents, New Delhi and Beijing increased the concentration of forces in the region to about 50,000 people each.”
According to an American intelligence report, the number of casualties on the Chinese side was 35.
Aayush Pal