China officially admits 4 pla soldiers killed in galwan clash

China has officially admitted that four military officers were killed in the clash with the Indian Army in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, Chinese media reported on Friday, 19 February. This

is the first statement from China on the casualties suffered by the country’s military in the Galwan clash. > People’s Daily, China reported that China’s Central Military > Commission

 had awarded four Chinese soldiers, “who were sacrificed > in last June’s border conflict”, with posthumously honorary > titles and first-class merit citations. > Four Chinese 

soldiers, who were sacrificed in last June's border > conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class > merit citations, Central Military Commission announced 

Friday. A > colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with > honorary title. pic.twitter.com/Io9Wk3pXaU > — People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 19, 2021

Additionally, Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, who was leading the men and got seriously injured, received the title of "Hero Regimental

Commander for Defending the Border", reported Global Times. > China on Fri unveiled, for the 1st time, names and detailed stories > of four martyrs who sacrificed their lives in 

the border > confrontation with India in the Galwan Valley in Jun 2020, to > commemorate their sacrifice for defending national sovereignty. > https://t.co/ESXwc0zD5s > — Global 

Times (@globaltimesnews) February 19, 2021 China also named the four soldiers who had lost their lives in the clash, saying that Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan, and Wang Zhuoran

died during a “fierce struggle” against “foreign troops,” reported Reuters. > Chen Hongjun was posthumously awarded the title of “Guardian of > the Frontier Hero,” while the other 

three were given first-class > merit citations, according to Global Times. “Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong and Xiao Siyuan fought to the last minute and sacrificed their lives. Wang

Zhuoran, a fellow soldier, also gave his life to rescue his comrades when crossing the river to support the others,” the Global Times report states. Twenty soldiers of the Indian Army were

killed in the violent clash in Ladakh, and have been inscribed on a war memorial built in Eastern Ladakh. On 16 June 2020, the Editor-in-Chief of Global Times, had tweeted that China had

also suffered casualties in the clash, but did not want to release the figures because it “doesn’t want people of the two countries to compare the casualty number so to avoid stoking public

mood”. Earlier reports had claimed that a senior PLA officer had died in the clashes. This has, however, remained unconfirmed. _(With inputs from Global Times and Reuters.)_ Published: 19

Feb 2021, 9:02 AM IST