From Galwan to Olympics: China tries to re-moralize defeated PLA soldiers!

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: One thing even its enemies cannot accuse China of—speaking the truth!

After months of silence and stonewalling, Beijing had two years ago admitted that five of its Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers had died in the armed conflict with the Indian Army in Galwan Valley, Eastern Ladakh, in 2020. New Delhi had already reported the loss of 20 Indian soldiers. Then, international media disclosed that the PLA had, in fact, lost around 40-48 soldiers.

In fact, the ill-equipped PLA was so demoralized after the conflict that, despite China’s bravado, propaganda, and continued threats to India, the soldiers’ parents appealed to their sons to return home. Viral videos of the crying PLA soldiers hit world headlines.

Now, Beijing is trying to re-moralize the PLA. It has drafted a PLA soldier, who was badly wounded in the clash, as the torch-bearer of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing (February 4-20, 2022).

The said soldier, the PLA’s Regiment Commander Qi Fabao, carried the torch on Wednesday to mark the commencement of the Games which, despite China clamping strictest zero-tolerance policy to contain fresh outbreaks of Covid-19, has been boycotted by several countries, including the USA, for the Dragon’s suspected role in the spread of the pandemic and human rights violations in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Qi Fabao was grievously wounded during the skirmish with India at the Galwan Valley border, China’s official mouthpiece Global Times reported.

China’s four-time Olympic short track speed skating champion Wang Meng handed over the Olympics flame to Fabao after the relay opened at Winter Olympic Park on Wednesday, the media reported.

The relay was scheduled between February 2 and 4, the date of the opening of the Winter Olympic Games.

The military standoff between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Eastern Ladakh border erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in nearby Pangong Lake. Even after losing the bloody battle, China dragged its feet and refused to sort out the mess despite 14 rounds of military commander-level talks, and several diplomatic parleys.

Interestingly, while the clash claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers, China refused to divulge their soldiers’ casualty numbers. However, the US intelligence agencies estimated the number to be over 40.

Recently, The Klaxon, an Australian tabloid, stated in an investigative report that China had suffered a devastating loss in the Galwan Valley encounter in 2020. In an exclusive report, its editor, Anthony Klan, said China’s casualties were significantly more than what they stated since many men drowned while crossing a river in the Valley.

Data and photographs from two distinct clashes in Galwan were mixed to obscure facts, he stated.

Although Beijing did not reveal the number of casualties in the Galwan conflict, it did award posthumous medals to four soldiers who died in the combat. Only four names were published, while the total number of losses was up to 38, the report said.

For this investigative report, The Klaxon had created an independent team of social media researchers, who discovered that China’s casualties went much beyond the four soldiers named by Beijing. In fact, Beijing went to great lengths to keep the conflict from being discussed.

According to the report, Galwan Decoded, many PLA soldiers were killed in the early stages of the June 15-16, 2020, conflict while attempting to swim in the fast-flowing Galwan River in sub-zero temperatures.

“At least 38 PLA troops, including Wang, perished that night,” the report added, citing various Weibo users. “Of the four officially dead soldiers, only Wang was declared.”

“China’s losses in the high-altitude 2020 Galwan Valley border clash with India — the deadliest confrontation between the two giants in over four decades — were much higher than reported, with many soldiers drowning while crossing a fast-flowing, sub-zero river in darkness, new research claims,” the report said.

The inquiry lasted a year, with materials gathered from mainland Chinese bloggers, residents, and media publications that Beijing had removed, the media reported.

“Beijing has retained a lot of information regarding what truly happened, what led to the skirmish and concealed it. What China told the rest of the world was basically made-up stories…many blogs and pages have been purged (by Chinese officials), but digital archives of mainland China indicate a different story.”

Following a severe skirmish in the Pangong Lake area on May 5, 2020, the border stalemate in Eastern Ladakh erupted, and both sides gradually increased their deployment by bringing in tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy equipment.

After a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two parties concluded the disengagement process in Gogra, as well as on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake, last year.

In the sensitive sector, each side has between 50,000 and 60,000 troops deployed along the LAC.