China rakes up Galwan faceoff post disengagement, blames India for June 15 violence

Reiterating its previous claims, China on Wednesday, blamed the Indian Army for the violent standoff against the People's Liberation Army (PLA) at the Galwan valley in Ladakh on the night of June 15. Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong asserted that the PLA was patrolling on its side and did not cross the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Weidong claimed that the Indian side crossed the LAC and 'violently attacked' Chinese soldiers. 

"Right and wrong of Galwan are clear. Responsibility is not on the Chinese side. Infrastructure being built by the Indian side was the cause of the flare-up. Indian side first went across the Line and provoked and violently attacked Chinese soldiers. Chinese soldiers were going to negotiate when they were attacked in Galwan," the Chinese envoy said on Thursday. 

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20 Indian soldiers martyred at Galwan

During the violent standoff against the PLA at Galwan, 20 Indian Army soldiers were martyred. The soldiers, including a Commanding Officer, were martyred when a violent faceoff took place amid the de-escalation process in Ladakh. As per the Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese newspaper Global Times, the Chinese side also suffered casualties during the physical clash. However, China abstained from revealing the casualties it suffered. Releasing a statement on the incident, the Ministry of External Affairs had stated that China had unilaterally attempted to change the status quo. 

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Since then, both sides have held multiple rounds of diplomatic and military level meetings to resolve the situation. After the visit of PM Modi to Ladakh, there has been a lot of progress on disengagement at the LAC. In the 17th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on Friday, the two nations agreed that another meeting of senior military commanders shall be held soon to work out steps for ensuring the complete disengagement and de-escalation along with the restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas. 

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In a statement on July 23, MEA official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava maintained that respecting and "strictly abiding" by the LAC is the basis of peace and tranquillity in the border areas. He observed that the conduct of the Chinese forces in 2020 including the deployment of a large number of troops and unjustified claims have completely disregarded mutual agreements. He said that India was not only fully committed to respecting the LAC but also shall not accept any unilateral attempts to change the status quo along the LAC.

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