The Indian Army and the Chinese military disengage from a disputed area in the western Himalayas in the Ladakh region. Photo released by the Indian Army on Feb. 16, 2021
Chinese Communist Party officials announced for the first Time on February 19 that four Chinese Communist Party soldiers were killed and one was injured in the India-China conflict. On the same day, a mainland microblogger questioned the CCP military’s death toll and was blocked and detained.
Last June, the worst bloodshed between China and India in 45 years erupted in the Galwan Valley in the western section of the border. But the Communist Party of China (CPC) only announced the number of dead and wounded and the list of names for the first time on Feb. 19 of this year, revealing in its “Martyr’s Commendation Order” that regimental commander Qi Fabao was seriously wounded in the clashes, and that battalion commander Chen Hongjun, soldiers Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuo Ran died. The media reports also put the blame on the Indian side for the conflict.
On the same day, “Golden V” @Spicy Pen Little Ball, who has more than 2.5 million followers, posted an article on the mainland Sina Weibo account questioning the death toll on the Chinese side, prompting a large number of “patriotic netizens” and the Chinese Communist Party’s official media to round up the media.
Subsequently, Weibo shut down Spicy Pen Xiaoqiu’s account for “defaming the martyrs” and banned him for one year, and another account held by Spicy Pen Xiaoqiu, “Ball Night Walk,” was also shut down at the same time.
On February 20, the Nanjing Public Security Bureau released a news release saying that on the evening of February 19, Qiu Moumou (male, 38 years old, Nanjing native, screen name “Spicy Pen Small Ball”) was criminally detained by the police on suspicion of “provoking and provoking trouble”.
As of 4:50 p.m. on Feb. 20, the news of “Spicy Pen Little Ball being detained” was ranked second on Weibo’s hot search list. Some netizens said that this is another attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to stir up public opinion and incite nationalist sentiment.
The Weibo page of Spicy Pen Xiaoqiu is currently empty, and the user is no longer found in the “search” section of Weibo.
According to the screenshot, the post by Spicy Pen Little Ball reads, “The biggest official, the chief, survived. On this basis, ‘the foreign army collapsed and fled with their heads in their hands’. Anyway, we won.”
“It’s good to be able to write like that. You carefully pin, the sacrifice of these four are because of ‘rescue’ and merit, even to rescue people have died, then there must be not rescued ah, indicating that not only four people were killed in action. This is also the reason why India dared to announce the number and list of the fallen in the first place, in India’s view, they won and at a much smaller cost.”
Some netizens pointed out that Spicy Pencil had been a reporter for the Economic Observer newspaper. The newspaper later issued a statement saying that he had left in 2015 and that his actions now had nothing to do with the company.
The clashes between India and China took place in mid-June last year, and immediately after the incident, the Indian side announced that at least 20 soldiers from the Indian military had died. But the Chinese Communist Party has been tight-lipped and has not mentioned the number of Chinese casualties.
However, U.S. media outlet News & World Report reported on June 16 last year that according to U.S. intelligence reports, 35 Chinese soldiers were killed and seriously injured. The Times of India, citing anonymous information, said there were 43 Chinese military casualties.
This time, the official Chinese media report accused the Indian side of violating the agreement between the two countries by frequently crossing the border, building bridges and roads, causing the border situation to heat up. This is the opposite of what was reported by the foreign media before.
At that time, the foreign media reported that on the day of the incident, Indian officers and soldiers patrolled to confirm whether the Chinese side had withdrawn in accordance with the agreement, and when the patrol saw the Chinese military set up a tent, the two sides fought, and the Chinese soldiers also took out wolf tooth bars (rusted steel welded iron nails) to attack.
U.S. intelligence sources also said that the conflict originated with Zhao Zongqi, commander of the Chinese military’s Western Theater, who ordered the attack on India, and that the Chinese side intended to use it as a show of strength to India.
Earlier this month, China and India finally reached a “buffer consensus” after lengthy secret military negotiations. The two sides began to organize simultaneous disengagement in the Pangong Tso area on Feb. 10, 2021.
In a recent interview with India’s New18 TV station, Indian Army’s northern theater commander Joshi said the standoff was a “total victory” for the Indian army and “a disgrace for the Chinese Communist Party.
Current political commentator Shen Zhou said that the Chinese Communist Party did not win at the Sino-Indian border, but actually failed both strategically and tactically. It is more likely that the CCP intended to provoke the conflict and divert attention, or even the CCP top brass wanted to establish prestige and further consolidate military power through the local war on the Sino-Indian border, but ultimately failed to achieve its goal and had to claim victory to cover up the substantive defeat.
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