PremiumFive Chinese military officers and soldiers were killed in last year's Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh with the Indian Army, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officially acknowledged for the first time on Friday.
Five Chinese frontier officers and soldiers stationed in the Karakoram Mountains have been recognised by the Central Military Commission of China (CMC) for their sacrifice in the border confrontation with India, which occurred in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military reported on Friday.
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Those killed included Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, state-un Global Times quoted PLA Daily report as saying. A total of 20 Indian soldiers died in the Galwan Valley clash, regarded as the worst in over four decades at the India-China border.
The admission of the casualties by the PLA coincides with the disengagement of troops by both sides at the North and South banks of the Pangong Lake, the most contentious part of the standoff which began in May last year.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said the disengagement process is gathering pace, and the entire exercise is expected to be concluded by the end of the week.
In the last few days, both sides removed several bunkers, temporary posts and other structures in the areas while gradually thinning down their troops, they said.
The sources said field commanders of both the sides are meeting almost on a daily basis to take forward the disengagement process which was finalised following nine rounds of high-level military talks.
After nine months of border standoff in eastern Ladakh, the two armies have reached an agreement on disengagement in the North and South banks of Pangong lake that mandates both sides to cease forward deployment of troops in a "phased, coordinated and verifiable" manner.
