New Delhi: China’s People Liberation of Army has finally acknowledged for the first time that its five soldiers were killed in a violent clash with India in Galwan Valley on June 15 last year.
According to China’s PLA Daily, “Five Chinese frontier officers and soldiers stationed in the Karakoram Mountains have been recognised by the Central Military Commission of China for defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity in the border confrontation with India, which occurred in the Galwan Valley in June 2020.”
It took PLÀ around right months to officially admit that its soldiers were killed in Galwan Valley. The acceptance comes amid a Russian wire agency report in February that 45 PLA troops were killed in Galwan Valley and on February 17, Indian Army Northern Command chief Lt Gen YK Joshi confirmed that 60 stretchers were seen taking away Chinese soldiers.
In that faceoff, 20 Indian troops were martyred and all of them were honoured posthumously during this year’s Republic Day. Commanding Officer Col Santosh Babu was awarded with MahaVir Chakra, the second highest military decoration in India and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air.
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 first-class merit to Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran.
Following the incident, there was a long standoff between the armies of the two countries and after a series of senior level military commanders’ negotiations between the two, the two nations started withdrawing their troops in a calibrated manner on February 11.
Since 1975, this was the worst border conflict between the two countries. With agency inputs
