The Galwan Valley clash was the worst border confrontation between India and China in more than 4 decades.
Beijing:
Eight months after a fierce border confrontation in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, China officially recognized the casualties and named five officers and soldiers who it said were killed.
The five soldiers were honored by the Chinese leadership, the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese army, reported on Friday.
Among the dead were Qi Fabao, the PLA Xinjiang Military Command regiment commander Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran, the state-run Global Times newspaper quoted the PLA Daily as saying.
India had confirmed the loss of 20 Indian soldiers shortly after the clashes on June 15, soldiers who were honored for their bravery with their names posted on monuments.
Until now, Beijing had never recognized Chinese casualties. China’s admission comes days after the North Indian Army Commander referred to the 45 Chinese casualty figure reported by Russia’s TASS news agency on February 10.
Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Institute of Strategy at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that China “revealed details of the incident to refute previous misinformation that China suffered more casualties than India or China incited the incident.” .
The clash between hundreds of soldiers from India and China took place in the Galwan Valley when Chinese soldiers prevented Indian soldiers from marching to their traditional patrol point in the area, which had also witnessed clashes in the Sino-Indian war. from 1962.
Satellite image from May 22, 2020 of the Chinese army base.
Chinese soldiers were armed with medieval-style weapons such as spiked maces. The two sides did not shoot each other.
Overview of the actual control line and patrol point on June 22, 2020.
After the Galwan confrontation, several Indian soldiers were made prisoners of war by the Chinese. These men were later released.
Close-up image of the actual control line and patrol point on June 22, 2020
Colonel Santosh Babu, the commanding officer of 16 Bihar, who was killed in action, was honored with the Maha Vir Chakra, the second highest award for wartime gallantry.
Colonel Santosh Babu, the commanding officer of 16 Bihar, was killed in action in the Galwan Valley standoff.
India and China are currently in the middle of a military de-escalation on both shores of Lake Pangong in eastern Ladakh, which lies well to the south of Galwan, where the fighting took place.
The “timed and organized disconnection” began last week.
After hand-to-hand battles in Galwan, India and China agreed to create a buffer zone in the area, where there is no no man’s land between the two sides that neither side patrols.
.
