BEIJING: China’s military said on Friday that four of its soldiers were killed in a high-mountain border clash with Indian forces last year, the first time Beijing has publicly conceded its side suffered casualties in the deadliest incident between the Asian giants in nearly 45 years.

The announcement, coming more than six months after the bloody hand-to-hand fighting, should help global audiences understand the truth and the right and wrong of the incident,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

Yet the delay also appeared to reflect China’s deep culture of military secrecy, as well as concerns over the potential domestic and international fallout from the bloodshed.

Immediately after the June 2020 clash atop a high ridge in the Ladakh regions Galwan Valley, India announced it had lost 20 of its soldiers in a battle that saw fists, clubs, stones and other improvised weapons used to avoid a firefight.

China was believed to have also had casualties but did not provide any details, saying it didn’t want to further inflame tensions.

The announcement that it did lose soldiers came as the two sides wrapped up a phased pullback from one of their original positions following multiple rounds of negotiations.

Indian and Chinese troops have completed disengagement from the southern and northern banks of Pangong Lake, an Indian army officer said. The withdrawal had begun Feb 10.

Commander-level talks are scheduled for Saturday to discuss pulling back from other areas, the officer said.

The Chinese announcement came in the military’s newspaper, the Peoples Liberation Army Daily, which said the four killed were named state martyrs.

The title of border-defending hero was conferred on Battalion Commander Chen Hongjun, while Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran received first-class merit awards. It attributed their deaths to a clash with trespassing foreign military personnel,” without mentioning India directly. Qi Fabao, a regimental commander who was wounded in the clash, was awarded the title of hero regimental commander for defending the border.” A brief video of the two militaries clashing last June was shown Friday night by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV’s dedicated military channel, including a daytime confrontation in a river with sticks and shields and another at night. Qi was shown among the soldiers shouting and gesticulating, with a voiceover saying he was insisting that matters be handled according to agreed upon procedures. Chinese troops wore helmets and body armor of the type used by riot police and at least one Chinese soldier was later shown being treated in the field for a bloody head wound.

Accompanied by dramatic orchestral music and slick production values, pictures of the four dead soldiers were then shown superimposed against a background of snow-capped peaks. At the end of the segment, troops were again shown patrolling and exercising on foot and in tanks, although the exact times and locations were not clear.

In the initial days after the clash, unconfirmed reports in Indian media put the number of Chinese dead as high as 45. More recently, an Indian security official said that the military estimates at least 14 Chinese soldiers were wounded, eight of whom later died.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2021