BEIJING – A China-India border clash in June last year left four Chinese dead and one injured, the Chinese military has revealed for the first time in a report.
Releasing previously unknown details of the last year’s border clash, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily newspaper says Indian troops ambushed the men on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control in the Galwan Valley in June.
The five PLA soldiers were described by the Central Military Commission as “heroes defending the border”, according to the report.
Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, who survived the incident, was given a hero award, along with battalion commander Chen Hongjun, who was honored posthumously. Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan, and Wang Zhuoran were posthumously given first-class merit awards.
The men died after fighting “foreign troops” who “crossed into the Chinese border”, the report added.
Another man, regimental commander Qi Fabao, was also given honors after sustaining “serious injuries”.
At least 20 Indians were also killed in the first deadly clash in the disputed border area in four decades. Soldiers reportedly brawled with sticks, bats, and bamboo sticks studded with nails. No shots were fired.
Tensions over 3,440km (2,100-mile)-long disputed border between the two nuclear-armed Asian rivals – the Line of Actual Control – remain high even till today.
