For the first time since the violent Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh, China has admitted that it lost four People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers in the face-off with Indian soldiers in June last year. China had earlier refused to disclose details of casualties in the Galwan clash earlier.
Chinese government’s official mouthpiece Global Times reported that the Central Military Commission of China “recognised” five Chinese frontier officers and soldiers “for their sacrifice in border confrontation with India”. Of the five PLA soldiers “honoured” by China, four were killed in the Galwan Valley clash.
China on Friday unveiled, for the first time, names and detailed stories of four martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the border confrontation with India in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, to commemorate their sacrifice for defending national sovereignty and territory. pic.twitter.com/v9UoXXSNSr
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 19, 2021
“Five Chinese frontier officers and soldiers stationed in the Karakorum Mountains have been recognised by the Central Military Commission of China for their contributions in the border confrontation with India, which occurred in the Galwan Valley in June 2020,” Global Times quoted the PLA Daily as saying on Friday.
Citing a Chinese media reports, Reuters reported: “Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran died a fierce struggle” against “foreign troops”. Chen Hongjun was posthumously awarded “Hero to defend the border” title while the other three were given first-class merit citations.
Twenty brave soldiers of the Indian Army led by Col Santosh Babu laid down their lives in the Galwan Valley clash while trying to protect India’s territorial integrity.