For the very first time, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has officially admitted that at least five Chinese officers and soldiers were killed in the clash with Indian soldiers in June 2020 at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.
So far, China had never acknowledged casualties.
The five officers and soldiers were honoured by the Central Military Commission of China (CMC), the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military, reported on Friday, February 19.
Those killed included Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, reported NDTV.
The PLA leadership honoured Qi Fabao, Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran.
India, however, says at least 30 Chinese soldiers were killed in the clash that broke out in June last year.
The Russian official news agency TASS, on February 10, has estimated that at least 45 Chinese soldiers were killed in the clash.
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in action in the Galwan Valley clash on June 15.
Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University said that China "unveiled details of the incident to refute previous disinformation that stated China suffered greater casualties than India or China incited the incident"
The admission of casualties comes at a time when the two armies are in the process of disengagement at the North and South banks of the Pangong Lake, which has been the epicentre of the standoff since May last year.
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