China breaks 8-month silence, finally admits Galwan Valley casualties

It took Chinese eight months to officially admit that four of its soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley clash. 

China's People Liberation of Army has acknowledged for the first time that five of its soldiers were killed in the violent clash with India in Galwan Valley on June 15 last year.
 

In the brawl, 20 Indian soldiers were killed and all of them were honoured posthumously during this year's Republic Day.
 

Commanding Officer Col Santosh Babu was awarded Maha Vir Chakra, the second-highest military honour.

It took Chinese eight months to officially admit that five of its soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley clash. 
 

The acceptance comes amid a Russian wire agency on February 11 reported that 45 PLA troops were killed in Galwan Valley. 
 

On February 17, Indian Army Northern Command GOC-in-C Lt Gen YK Joshi confirmed that 60 stretchers were seen being taken away by the Chinese.

As per China's PLA Daily, four Chinese frontier officers and soldiers stationed in the Karakoram Mountains have been recognized by the Central Military Commission of China for defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity in the border confrontation with India, which occurred in the Galwan Valley in June 2020.
 

The Central Military Commission awarded Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, the title of 'Hero regimental commander for defending the border', Chen Hongjun with 'Hero to defend the border', and awarded the first-class merit to Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran.
 

Since 1975, this was the worst border conflict between the two countries.