China planned incident in Galwan valley, US report says

The Chinese government had planned the Galwan Valley incident in June, potentially including the possibility of deaths, a US Congressional Commission said, claiming that Beijing “sparked” the first deadly collision on the China-India border in almost half century.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party uses its armed forces as a coercive tool in peacetime, carrying out large-scale intimidation exercises in Taiwan and the South China Sea, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in his latest annual report to Congress.

“This year, it sparked the first deadly confrontation on the China-India border in nearly half a century. China’s growing aggression has not gone unnoticed, ”the report said.

In June, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Indian troops engaged in a massive physical fight in the Galwan Valley, located in the western Ladakh region along the Royal Line of Control (LAC) that separates the two countries, the report said December 1.

The clash, which followed a series of clashes that began in early May across multiple sectors of LAC, resulted in at least 20 Indian deaths and an unconfirmed number of Chinese casualties, the first time since 1975 that lives were lost in fighting between the two sides. . “Some evidence suggested that the Chinese government had planned the incident, potentially including the possibility of deaths,” the report said.

For example, several weeks before the confrontation, Chinese Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe made a statement in which he encouraged Beijing to “use the struggle to promote stability.”

Just over two weeks before the incident, in another possible indication that Chinese leaders signaled their intention to escalate tensions, an editorial in the China state tabloid Global Times warned that India would suffer a “devastating blow” to its trade and economic relations. with China. if he “got involved in the rivalry between the United States and China.”

More satellite images showed a large backlog of Chinese in the Galwan Valley, including potentially 1,000 PLA ​​soldiers, the week before the deadly skirmish, said the Congressional Commission created in 2000 to monitor and investigate national security and trade issues. between the United States and China.

China and India have been involved in multiple physical clashes along their border for decades, but since Secretary-General Xi Jinping took power in 2012, the two countries have seen five major altercations along their border. The exact motivations behind the provocative behavior of the Chinese government in LAC this year remain unclear, he noted.

“The immediate cause of the confrontation appeared to be the construction of a strategic access road in India to support the troops stationed throughout LAC. China has also built extensive infrastructure throughout LAC in recent years. After the confrontation, Beijing asserted sovereignty over the entire Galwan Valley, a new claim and a significant change in the territorial status quo, ”the report said.

According to the report, the Chinese Navy has also regularly deployed diesel-electric and nuclear attack submarines in the Indian Ocean since 2013, which, despite their apparent mission to support China’s Gulf of Aden anti-piracy task forces, serve to collect intelligence and signals to India. that China could challenge the Indian Navy or threaten commercial shipping.

Chinese hydrographic research vessels also sometimes venture into waters around strategic Indian sites to gather intelligence, according to the report, citing an example of the Indian navy driving away China’s Shiyan-1 research vessel in December. 2019 after catching the ship loitering near Port Blair.

The Commission said that in 2020, China sought to project an image of confidence and greater efforts to present itself as a superior world leader to the United States, even as it faced an increasing variety of challenges at home and abroad.

“Beijing intensified its multi-year campaign of coercion against its neighbors, sparking military or paramilitary clashes with countries from Japan to India and much of Southeast Asia. Shortly after China’s defense minister urged Beijing to use military force to stabilize its periphery, a violent clash on the China-India border in June caused the first loss of life between the two countries since 1975, ”he said. .