(TibetanReview.net, Jun26’20) – China has sought to pacify families of its soldiers killed in the Jun 15 night clash with India troops in the Galwan Valley of eastern Ladakh border over the lack of state recognition for their sacrifices.
“The dead have been treated with the highest respect in the military, and that information will eventually be reported to society at the right time, so that heroes can be honored and remembered as they deserve,” wrote editor Hu Xijin of Global Times, China’s international party mouthpiece.
The editorial came two days after a video emerged from China showing that the families of People’s Liberation Army personnel were outraged by the fact that unlike Indian soldiers, their martyrs had received no honour and no acknowledgment, noted the timesofindia.com Jun 26.
The report noted that though Global Times admitted that “less than 20” PLA soldiers were killed, the Chinese government had remained tight-lipped on the issue.
“Thus far, the Chinese military has not released any information about the deceased… I understand that this is an expedient move with the aim of not irritating public opinion in the two countries,” Hu has written.
Hu has dismissed an “unchallenged rumours” Indian media claim that at least 40 Chinese soldiers were killed, that India had handed over the bodies of 16 Chinese soldiers.
Meanwhile India has on Jun 25 made the normalization of ties with China conditional on the restoration of the status quo along the line of actual control, or LAC, and disengagement of troops, signalling a hardening of position amid a massive buildup of Chinese troops, tanks and artillery near the un-demarcated border, reported livemint.com Jun 26.
Calling the massing of troops along the 3,488-km LAC a violation of a 1993 pact, India, too, has sent in reinforcements, the report cited India’s foreign ministry as saying.
