- 3 Indian soldiers martyred
- 5 Chinese soldiers killed & 11 injured says Global Times
By Sangeeta Saxena
New Delhi. 16 June 2020. The day dawned today with the social media full of a Major General level meeting happening in the Galwan Valley on the Line of Actual Control. As the day progressed China which was ahead of India in time, through its Global Times twitter handle of WenWen Wang , a reporter of the news paper, “ Reports say 5 PLA soldiers were killed and 11 were injured at LAC China-India Border today”. By then the Indian media was full of reports of a violent clash killing a Colonel , a Junior commissioned Officer and an Other Rank soldier of the infantry battalion placed there.
And then Global Times official twitter handle tweeted, “The official Global Times accounts have NEVER reported the exact casualties on the Chinese side. The Global Times CANNOT confirm the number at the moment.” And this was followed by a tweet by the Editor-in-Chief of Global Times Hu Xijin which exhorted , “Based on what I know, Chinese side also suffered casualties in the Galwan Valley physical clash. I want to tell the Indian side, don’t be arrogant and misread China’s restraint as being weak. China doesn’t want to have a clash with India, but we don’t fear it.”
High time China realised that India is not scared of its rhetoric and neither ready to believe its false allegations. It has been 45 years since Indian and Chinese troops had a violent face off which led to loss of lives of our soldiers.
An official statement from the Indian Army in the afternoon said, “During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers. Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation.” After a gap of some time the Indian Army release an amended statement, saying that the casualties took place on both sides. The updated statement read, “During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties on both sides. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers. Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation.”
At a regular press conference Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that on Monday “Indian troops seriously violated our consensus and twice crossed the border line for illegal activities and provoked and attacked Chinese personnel which lead to serious physical conflict between the two sides.”
Meanwhile in the daily press conference held by Ministry of Foreign Affairs China the Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, “China has lodged strong protest and representation with the India side, and we once again we solemnly ask the India side to follow our consensus and strictly regulate its front line troops and do not cross the line and do not stir up troubles or take unilateral moves that may complicate matters. We both agreed to resolve this issue through dialogue and consolation and make efforts for easing the situation and upholding peace and tranquillity in the border area.” And ofcourse there was no mention of Chinese casualties.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a high-level meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs. Post that he met the Prime Minister and informed him of the details of the violent standoff at LAC yesterday night.
Meanwhile UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed concern over the India-China violent faceoff. Eri Kaneko, Associate Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said at the daily press briefing. “We are concerned about reports of violence and deaths at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China and urge both sides to exercise maximum restraint. We take positive note of reports that the two countries have engaged to deescalate the situation.”
The story is developing and ADU will keep you updated.
