(TibetanReview.net, Jan27’21) – China has on Jan 26 criticized India for presenting gallantry awards to its soldiers who had died while fighting off a night time attack from Chinese army intruders in Galwan Valley of Ladakh in Jun 2020. The Jun 15/16-night clash followed the start of a faceoff in early May that year which continues today despite nine rounds of military-level talks.
China’s official globaltimes.cn Jan 26 cited government employed Chinese experts as blasting India “for escalating tensions after India has reportedly awarded soldiers who died in a conflict with Chinese soldiers in Galwan Valley in June 2020.”
The report noted that the Indian media reported the awarding on Jan 25 night, “the day the ninth round of the China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting ended, in which both countries agreed to push for an early troops disengagement and continue to stabilize the border situation.”
Chinese experts have offered theories behind India’s move to honour its martyrs. The report cited Zhao Gancheng, director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, as saying “the epidemic, economic recession and farmer protest embarrassed the Indian government, which hopes to shift domestic attention through anti-China moves.”
Zhao ha also claimed that India was trying to test the bottom line of the US’ China policy during the Biden administration, “which is very likely to become more moderate, which means the bankruptcy of India’s hard-line anti-China approach during the Trump era,” Zhao has said, noting that “India will likely be ‘diehard until the end’.”
“As winter passes, observers say the border face-off is likely to continue, and China needs to be wary of India continuing to stir up trouble in areas other than the Galwan Valley and Pangong Tso Lake,” Zhao was further cited as saying.
Sino-India border incidents have been seen to begin usually with Chinese intrusions from occupied Tibet where the infrastructure is well-developed. India often notices them too late due to the undeveloped terrain of wilderness on its side of the border.
