Galwan truth

The findings of a year-long investigation by a group of social media researchers that China’s casualties in the June 2020 Galwan valley border clash with India were much higher than the official figures have put Beijing in a tight spot. Its efforts to silence any discussion about the high-altitude battle have been exposed, while the People’s Liberation Army has cut a sorry figure over the undercount of deaths of its soldiers. Against the count of just four fatalities, announced eight months after the clash, a report in an Australian newspaper says at least 38 soldiers drowned while crossing a fast-flowing river in sub-zero temperatures in darkness. In comparison, highlighting its professionalism and honouring its bravehearts, the Indian Army was quick to report the loss of 20 men in the deadliest face-off after the Nathu La and Cho La clashes of 1967.

Citing discussions with mainland Chinese bloggers, information from citizens and media reports that have since been deleted, ‘Galwan Decoded’ says that a lot of facts about what really happened have been hidden by Beijing. What was told to the world, it concludes, were mostly fabricated stories. Equally disturbing is China’s decision to make a regimental commander, who was injured in the Galwan clash, a torchbearer for the Beijing Winter Olympics, a clear indication that the sporting event has been politicised. New Delhi has denounced the provocative move, which comes close on the heels of the alleged abduction and torture of a 17-year-old from Arunachal Pradesh by Chinese forces. The sharp criticism by a top lawmaker from the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, among others, points to the fact that the officer was part of the military command that attacked India and was involved in genocide against the Uyghurs.

One effect of the Galwan clash has been determined efforts to offset the growing power and expansionist activities of China. Days after claims made in February last year by a Russian news agency of 45 deaths, the Chinese state-owned Global Times acknowledged fatalities in Galwan for the first time, but limited the number to four. History cannot be distorted and heroes cannot be forgotten, it wrote, ironically. The distortion, as it emerges a year later, could not be more profound.