China recognizes troops killed in clash at Indian border for the first time

  • The death of the 4 soldiers occurred when China and India fought in the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020.
  • China confirmed this for the first time in the PLA Daily for the first time.
  • It relates to a de facto shared border of 2,100 miles called the Royal Control Line (LAC).
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China acknowledged that four of its soldiers were killed during a clash at the border with India last summer for the first time.

The deaths of the soldiers, the youngest at 19, came when China and India fought in the Galwan valley, in the Himalayas, in June, in the deadliest confrontation between them in nearly 46 years.

China confirmed this for the first time in its official military newspaper, the People’s Liberation Army Daily (PLA Daily).

PLA Daily identified them as Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran and said the top three were killed in the fight while Wang died trying to cross a river to help his comrades.

Battalion commander Chen Hongjun and the three other soldiers who died, whose rank remains unknown, were all named martyrs and received posthumous honors alongside a fifth individual, he added.

Immediately after the confrontation, India said 20 of its soldiers were killed, while China simply said there were deaths on both sides, but it refused to share the exact number of deaths among its troops, despite several unconfirmed reports estimating more than 40.

China and India share a de facto border 2,100 miles long in the Himalayas called the Royal Control Line (LAC), which was created in 1962 after a war between them over a piece of land.

It has been a source of tension ever since, with each side regularly claiming that the other has crossed the somewhat ill-defined border in its territory in the Pangong Tso area of ​​Ladakh.

In early May, Chinese and Indian troops and tanks were in the middle of an impasse in the Karakoram mountains and engaged in shouting, rock throwing and fighting, as a bilateral agreement prevents the use of weapons on both sides, France reported. 24.

In the following month, things increased and eventually spread to the north, in the Galwan Valley, where India built a military all-weather road along the hotly contested border, Sky News added.

Although the two countries agreed not to send any more troops in September and started negotiations that temporarily solved the problem, there was a “small” incident last month. However, they have agreed to “shut down” and are starting to withdraw from LAC.

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