China acknowledges death of 4 soldiers killed in border conflict of Galwan Valley

Following the violent border conflict, eight months ago at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, China has officially confirmed casualties and named four officers and soldiers that it said were killed.

Five soldiers, including an officer who was injured, were honoured by the Chinese leadership, wrote the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military, on Friday 19th February.

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Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, did not survive the clash.

India had confirmed the death of 20 Indian soldiers not long after the clashes on 15th June. Soldiers were acclaimed for their bravery with their names installed in memorials.

Until now, Beijing had never acknowledged the Chinese casualties. The admission from China comes post India’s Northern Army Commander referring to the figure of 45 Chinese casualties reported by Russian news agency TASS on 10th February 2021.

Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, said to the Global Times that China “unveiled details of the incident to refute previous disinformation that stated China suffered greater casualties than India or China incited the incident”.

The confrontation between hundreds of soldiers of India and China took place in the Galwan Valley when Chinese soldiers stopped Indian soldiers from marching up to their traditional patrolling point in the area, which had also seen clashes in the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

The Chinese soldiers were armed with medieval-style weapons such as spiked maces. The two sides did not fire upon each other.

Following the Galwan clash, several Indian soldiers were taken as hostages of war by the Chinese. These men were subsequently released.

Colonel Santosh Babu, the Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar, who was killed in action, was commemorated with the Maha Vir Chakra, the second highest war time gallantry award.

India and China are currently in the midst of a military de-escalation on both banks of the Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh, which is located south of Galwan where the battle took place.

After the pitched hand-to-hand battles in Galwan, India and China have accepted the creation of a buffer zone in the area, where there is no man’s land that neither side patrols.