8 highlights from Australian report on 2020 Galwan clashes and China's 38 drowned soldiers
It has been nearly two years since the deadly Galwan valley clashes between Indian and Chinese security forces. It was the worst clash with the highest casualties since the 1962 Sino-Indian war. India lost 20 soldiers in the scuffle. However, Chinese authorities to date have refused to divulge any details in the matter; much less the exact number of casualties.
Now, the latest report on Galwan valley clashes by an Australian news portal The Klaxon states that the Chinese side suffered heavier casualties than India, with at least 38 PLA soldiers killed.
Here are 8 points explaining the report:
1. GALWAN DECODED
The Klaxon’s report is based on a combined investigation with a group of unnamed independent social media researchers. The researchers compiled a report called ‘Galwan Decoded’ by analysing and speaking to several Chinese netizens, bloggers and citizens.
2. CHINA OFFICIAL CASUALTIES
China has officially acknowledged the death of only four Chinese soldiers during the 2020 clashes. In February 2021, it honoured the four PLA soldiers:
- Junior Sergeant Wang Zhuoran (drowned)
- PLA Battalion Commander Major Chen Hongjun (killed in clashes)
- Private Chen Xiangrong (killed in clashes)
- Junior Sergeant Xiao Siyuan (killed in clashes)
3. THE LATEST CLAIM
The Klaxon claims that Junior Sergeant Wang Zhuoran wasn’t the only one who drowned. And that 37 PLA soldiers also drowned during the night of June 15-16, 2020 clashes.
4. WHAT LED TO THE CLASHES?
According to the report, the clashes were a result of rising tensions and infrastructure build-up, mainly by the Chinese side. However, in May 2020, the Indian side erected a bridge across a river in the buffer zone that the Chinese side took objection to.
“On June 6, 80 PLA soldiers came to dismantle the bridge and nearly 100 troops came to defend it,” the report states.
The daylight clashes video being circulated on social media with claims that it is from the June 15-16 clashes is incorrect, the report said. And in fact the video is of the June 6 clash.
Following the brief scuffle, both sides agreed to withdraw from the buffer zone and remove all infrastructures that crossed the line. However, the Chinese side did not adhere to the truce and instead, dismantled the bridge constructed by the Indian Army.
5. WHAT HAPPENED ON D-DAY?
On the night of June 15-16, 2020, Colonel Santosh of the Indian Army and his troops returned to inspect the clash site and to remove any Chinese encroachments. However, Colonel Qi Fabao of the Chinese PLA along with 150 soldiers were present at the site.
The report claims that Qi Fabao ordered his men to get ready for a battle instead of discussing the issue.
When Fabao attacked, he was surrounded by the Indian forces and that’s when PLA battalion commander Chen Hongjun and soldier Chen Xiangrong entered the melee with steel pipes, sticks and stones to let their commander escape. Another Chinese soldier Xiao Siyuan who had been recording the event also entered the scuffle. While Fabao was able to escape, the three soldiers who are named above died in the clashes. These three soldiers are the ones officially recognised by the Chinese government.
6. THE DROWNING
Following the clashes, panic rose among the PLA soldiers who tried to retreat. Junior Sergeant Wang Zhuoran came to the rescue of his comrades by leading them through the river. It is at this time, trying to cross the sub-zero temperature river, when the water levels suddenly rose, and in pitch darkness that a number of Chinese soldiers were swept away in the current, including Junior Sergeant Wang Zhuoran.
A social media video of the alleged graves of the Chinese soldiers killed in Galwan valley is going viral.
7. COLONEL QI FABAO
Interestingly, Colonel Qi Fabao who escaped the clashes with head injuries also found a latest mention by the Chinese media. Colonel Qi Fabao was one of the torch bearers during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
8. CHINESE CENSORSHIP
The report also explains in detail about China’s censorship of the incident.
China has been tight-lipped about the Galwan casualties on its side, like all other things. The Australian report states that China almost entirely left out mentioning the clashes at the time of the skirmish. Other than that, on February 20, the Chinese government also released a statement saying that 38-year-old journalist Qiu Moumou was fired from his job at the Chinese newspaper the Economic Observer for having “questioned the number of PLA (People’s Liberation Army) casualties in Galwan”.
Other reports during the period had claimed that the journalist was arrested.
The Australian journalist Anthony Klan behind the report also spoke to India Today TV.
Before The Klaxon report, a Russian news agency had claimed that China suffered an estimated 45 casualties.
So far, there has been no response to the Australian report by China.