BEIJING: While China has remained mum over the casualties it suffered during the Galwan Valley clashes with the Indian troops in estern Ladakh, the Russian news agency TASS has now claimed that Beijing lost at least 45 soldiers during the violent faceoff between the two armies.
TASS, in its report on India-China border troops disengagement, said that the Chinese and Indian forces clashed in the region in May and June 2020, resulting in at least 20 Indian and 45 Chinese servicemen dead.
“Following these incidents, New Delhi and Beijing increased the concentration of forces in the region to about 50,000 people each,’’ it added. The revelation was made by TASS on the day when the border troops of the two-nuclear-powered Asian giants began withdrawing troops from the shared border near the Pangong Tso Lake, in accordance with earlier agreements.
This was also confirmed by the Chinese Defense Ministry on Wednesday. "Both sides simultaneously commence the planned withdrawal of forces from the border in accordance with agreements, achieved during the 9th round of negotiations at the army commanders’ level," the Chinese Defense Ministry statement said.
The spokesperson of China’s Ministry of National Defence, Wu Qian said, "According to the consensus reached by the 9th round of the military commander-level talks between China and India, the frontline units of the Chinese and Indian armed forces in Pangong Hunan and North Coast began to simultaneously and systematically organize disengagement on February 10."
Since May last year, the Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in skirmishes along the LAC near Pangong lake in Ladakh and the Tibet Autonomous Region. After the face-off, the Narendra Modi regime sent massive deployments to Ladakh.
Though both sides disengaged in the Galwan Valley of Ladakh in July the stand-off continued at critical points at Pangong and PP17A. In August, Indian troops regained multiple strategic heights in the Chushul sector along the LAC.
However, both the countries remained engaged in talks through established institutions and mechanisms like ‘Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs’ (WMCC). Several rounds of talks were held at diplomatic and military levels.
On January 24, the ninth round of the Corps Commander level meeting was held. The tensions between the two Asian economies resulted in the government banning several mobile applications and people boycotting Chinese products. The accusations that Chinese smartphone apps were stealing Indian data, led to the government banning over 200 Chinese apps.
However, the bilateral trade continued through the hostility and during the coronavirus pandemic, which had originated in Wuhan city of Hubei province in China.
