NEW DELHI – China said four of its soldiers died in border clashes with Indian forces last year, revealing for the first time casualties from the battle in the Himalayas that killed 20 Indians and tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors.
India revealed its views on what happened shortly after the June incident, saying its troops were killed in the bloody skirmish in which soldiers fought with stones, batons and clubs wrapped in barbed wire. China was silent on the number of victims until Friday, when it announced posthumous awards for the four soldiers.
In the announcement, China blamed India, saying that its forces had “deliberately provoked incidents” by trying to “unilaterally change the status quo of border control,” according to PLA Daily, its leading military publication.
Tensions remained high for months between India and China, which share a 2,000 mile border. They pointed fingers at each other to start the fight and said the other side was violating established rules and limits for troop movement.
According to Indian officials, the violence started after Indian soldiers arrived in an area of the Galwan Valley on the border to ensure that Chinese forces had left as part of an agreement between the two sides. They found that Chinese soldiers had stayed and started building a new structure on what India considers to be its side of the de facto border. That sparked a fight, which led to the bloody clash.