China released a video yesterday, Feb. 19, that purportedly shows a deadly clash between the Chinese and Indian militaries on the border between the two countries in the Himalayas in June 2020, resulting in the deaths of personnel on both sides. The Chinese Defense Ministry announced the deaths of four Chinese soldiers only eight months after the clash. This came days after Chinese and Indian troops began their respective retreats along the disputed border.
Deadly clashes erupted along the India-China border last summer. The fighting was conducted unarmed or with objects such as rocks and sticks because of an agreement between India and China to ban guns in the border zone. New Delhi reported 20 deaths among its ranks at the Time, but Beijing did not provide any casualty figures at the time.
The Chinese Defense Ministry did not report the deaths of four Chinese soldiers until Feb. 19 of this year, eight months after the clashes, according to an AFP report.
There is considerable speculation as to why the Chinese Defense Ministry did not announce the deaths of Chinese soldiers to the public until eight months after the conflict. But the Chinese side did not explain why it did so.
Then, Chinese official media CCTV showed a Chinese version of a video about the conflict. This video showed, some Indian soldiers crossing a river on foot among the snow-capped peaks of the Karakorum Mountains. Armed with long sticks and shields with the word “police” written on them, they walk towards the Chinese troops across the river. The latter tried to hold them back with their bodies. This Chinese CCTV report accuses the Indians of crossing the de facto border in order to “provoke” the Chinese soldiers.
The footage then shows groups of soldiers from both sides facing each other in the dark, followed by some Chinese treating one of their own who was lying on the ground. The soldier’s head was bleeding.
Clashes using rocks, fists or other objects as weapons often occur along the border between the two countries because of bilateral agreements banning the use of weapons.
This high-altitude incident at the Tibet-India border in the Ladakh region was the worst confrontation between the two Asian giants since China easily defeated India in a blitzkrieg in 1962.
The actual Line of Actual Control (LAC) of the border between India and China is not clearly demarcated, and the two countries accuse each other of encroaching on their own territory.
Both Beijing and New Delhi have deployed tens of thousands of additional troops and heavy weapons to the area following this standoff between the two sides. However, in early February, the two countries reached an agreement on the withdrawal of their respective troops from one of the disputed sections of the border.
According to the Central News Agency, the Communist Party of China’s People’s Liberation Army newspaper reported on June 19 detailing the deaths of four PLA troops in a military clash on the Sino-Indian border last June, accusing India of unilaterally provoking the conflict without naming names and calling the Chinese side a “major victory” in the conflict.
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