New Delhi: Amid the scheduling of another round of talks to further ease the faceoff between two of Asia’s biggest militaries, China on Friday unleashed a war on yet another major front—that of information and media.
After finalizing the date for the tenth round of talks which is to begin at Moldo at 10 AM Saturday morning, state-owned Chinese media and social media platforms went ballistic with a video apparently of the June 15, 2020 bloody brawl between Indian and Chinese troops on the banks of the Galwan river.
Moldo is a Chinese PLA garrison across India’s Chushul border outpost in eastern Ladakh.
Amid thawing of Ladakh faceoff, China unleashes info war The video put out on seemingly Chinese twitter handles shows Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, holding out against advancing India soldiers in a manner showing the latter as aggressors.
Sources in the Indian Army refused to comment on the videos. One of the senior sources told ETV Bharat: “The PLA is trying to salvage whatever it can doing what it did at Galwan. They have put out plenty of such propaganda videos in the past. This can be treated as one such.”
What is confounding however is why the Chinese side have put out such videos just before the crucial talks on Saturday.
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Earlier in the day, the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) named five officers and soldiers—Qi Fabao and four soldiers—Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran—as having received recognition for displaying heroism in the Galwan incident. Of the five, four died during the brutal brawl.
After remaining tight-lipped for about eight months, Chinese military websites and portals on Friday also put out stories recounting the heroism shown by the PLA personnel—the first official affirmation of the casualties suffered by the PLA in the duel although international and Indian sources had cited different figures of casualties.
Among other things, the PLA effort underlines the importance and vitality of the changing nature of contemporary warfare which need not necessarily be a traditional clash of arms. It also indicates the centrality of using information as a tool to score tactical victories.
The Chinese response comes after India’s Northern Army commander Lieutenant General Yogesh Kumar Joshi hinted on Thursday that the PLA casualties in the Galwan incident may have been at least 45 or more.
