China starts psy-war, releases Galwan clashes video ahead of military delegates meet

Chinese (foreground) and Indian soldiers (R, background) during an incident where troops from both countries clashed in the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley, in the Karakoram Mountains in the Himalayas. Pic/AFP

Ahead of the military commanders meeting on Saturday to de-escalate tensions at the Line of Actual Control, China has started a psy-war in which it released a video of Galwan Valley clashes on social media accusing the Indian Army of being aggressive and leading to the clash.

The Indian Army didn't react to the video of the clash released by China and maintained silence over the issue. The video was released on a private news organisation in China thereafter it went viral. The video is of the clashes between Indian and Chinese troops.

It is after long that China has released a video of the clash which took place on June 15 last year. India had lost 20 soldiers and China claims that they have four casualties. China, for the first time, has released the names of their soldiers killed in the clashes on Friday.

The video was released just ahead of a meeting between India and China's military delegates on Saturday for the tenth round of talks to discuss disengagement at other friction points at Line of Actual Control. The meeting is scheduled at 10 am at Moldo on the Chinese side.

The Corps Commanders are likely to discuss other friction areas such as Hot Springs, Gogra and the 900 square-km Depsang plains.

The build-up in Depsang was not being considered part of the current standoff that started in May last year as escalations here took place in 2013, India has insisted during recent military commander meetings to resolve all issues across Line of Actual Control.

"The initial attempt will be to resolve Gogra and Hot Springs. Finding a solution to Depsang might be tricky and take longer," said an official.

The representatives during tenth round of "corps commander level" meet to also check the status of disengagement at northen and southern banks of Pangong Lake.

The disengagement process at both banks of the Pangong Lake is expected to complete till February 20. It was on February 10 that China made an announcement that New Delhi and Beijing have agreed to disengage at Pangong Lake.

Indian Army team along with Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) team are physically verify and re-verify disengagement at Pangong Lake. "It is a joint inspection team, both from Indian Army and Chinese PLA," said a senior government officer.

The agreement states that Chinese troops will move back to Finger 8 and Indian troops will pull back to the Dhan Singh Thapa post between Finger 2 and 3 of the north bank of Pangong Lake. Further, there would be temporary moratorium on military activities, including patrolling to the traditional areas.

The mountain spur jutting into the lake is referred to as Finger in military parlance. The north bank of the lake is divided into 8 Fingers. Indian has claimed its territory till Finger 8 and China dispute it claims till Finger 4.

India and China are engaged in a ten-month-long standoff at the Line of Actual Control. The confrontations began on the north bank of Pangong Lake, both in the waters and the bank as Chinese incursions increased in early May last year.

The confrontation later spilled over to the southern bank following which Indian Army occupied crucial heights, irking the Chinese also leading to incidents of gun shots being fired in the air.

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