China officially admits four soldiers killed in Galwan Valley clash
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New Delhi, Feb 19: Four Chinese military officers and soldiers were killed in last year’s Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh with the Indian Army, and China 's People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officially acknowledged for the first time on Friday.
'Four Chinese frontier officers and soldiers stationed in the Karakoram Mountains have been recognized by the Central Military Commission of China (CMC) for their sacrifice in the border confrontation with India, which occurred in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, the PLA Daily', the official newspaper of the Chinese military reported on Friday.
Those killed included Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, state-un Global Times quoted PLA Daily report as saying. Last year on June, 20 Indian soldiers were martyred in the Galwan Valley clash regarded as the worst in over four decades at the India-China border.
The CMC, the overall high command of the PLA headed by President Xi Jinping, has 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.
This is the first time China has acknowledged casualties and details of these officers and soldiers’ sacrifice, four of whom died when dealing with the Indian military’s “illegal trespassing” of the Galwan Valley Line of Actual Control (LAC), the report said.
While India has announced the casualties immediately after the incident, China did not officially acknowledge the casualties until Friday. The Russian official news agency TASS reported on February 10 that 45 Chinese servicemen were killed in the Galwan Valley clash.