Representational Image | Credits: Getty Images
Eight months after the Himayalan border clash at Galwan valley clash in which Indian soldiers were ambushed by the PLA, China officially acknowledged on Friday (19 February), that four of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers were killed and one was injured in the clashes.
While this revelation comes at the heels of a full Chinese withdrawal from the shores of the Pangong lake in Ladakh and both nations agreeing to status quo ante, what is more revelatory is the language used by the military and the Chinese state-run media when referring to the violent clash which resulted in a nearly nine-month long stand-off between India an China atop the icy Himalayan mountains.
As can be expected, Chinese state-run media lays the responsibility for the clash squarely on India. Remarkably, however, the report doesn’t name India, but refers to the Indian Army as “foreign forces” who were “tresspassing”.
According to a report by the China Global Television Network (CGTN), the communist regime has honoured two officers and three soldiers for “defending the country’s western border”.
“China’s military authorities have honored two officers and three soldiers, including four who received the awards posthumously, for defending the country’s western border. The People’s Liberation Army Daily on Friday reported that the Central Military Commission issued commendations to the servicemen for their role in bravely fighting back hostilities provoked by foreign forces at the Galwan Valley”, the report said.
The five PLA troops were honoured with honorary titles and first-class merit citations. Four of them were honoured posthumously.
“The title of “border-defending hero” was conferred on Battalion Commander Chen Hongjun posthumously, while Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran received the first-class merit. They all died in a clash with trespassing foreign military personnel wielding steel tubes, cudgels, and stones last June.”
“Qi Fabao, who was seriously injured in the skirmish, received the title of “hero regiment commander for defending the border”, the CGTN report stated.
Names match with photograph of one Chinese soldier’s tomb doing the rounds on social media last year
Photographs of a tomb of one Chinese soldiers who had died in the clash were doing the rounds on Chinese social media last year.
The tombstone, written in mandarin, read, “Soldier of the 69316 troops, from Pingnan, Fujian.”
“Tomb of Chen Xiangrong. He was sacrificed in the struggle against India’s border troops in June 2020 and was posthumously remembered by the Central Military Commission.”
The name on the tomb matches with the names of the dead soldiers released by China.
The CGTN report also quoted Ren Guoqiang, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense saying that an honorary title was awarded to those who made great contributions to combat, training, or other areas.
“The Party, country, and the army attach great importance to the pensions and preferential treatment to the families of military personnel, Ren said, stressing that the country and the Chinese people will never forget the martyrs who sacrificed themselves to protect the country. Ren reiterated that China’s stance on border issues is always clear and consistent. China is committed to settling conflicts through negotiations, the spokesperson reaffirmed, adding that the country is striving to ease the regional tension to restore peace and tranquility in the area”, the report continued.
The Central Military Commission (CMC), which is the national defense organization of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China and is headed by Xi Jinping, uncharacteristically also unveiled the names and stories of the martyrs for the first time to commemorate their sacrifice for defending “national sovereignty and territory”.
However, based on reports by Russian news agency TASS, Lieutenant General Y C Joshi, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army’s Northern Command had claimed that 45 Chinese PLA soldiers were killed on 15 June 2020.
It is noteworthy that it has taken over eight months for China to acknowledge the deaths of its own soldiers, while India had earlier said, in June itself, that twenty of its soldiers had died in the clash.
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