China wants to stir up patriotism and nationalism: Expert

New Delhi: In a surprise move, China on Friday revealed the name of five military officers and soldiers who lost their lives at the deadly Galwan valley clash that also led to the demise of 20 Indian soldiers.

Last week, both sides had reached an agreement on disengagement in the North and South bank of Pangong Lake, the process of which according to reports has completed.

However, the move by China to finally acknowledge casualities and revealing the name of the soldiers killed in the border standoff, which it has denied to admit ever since the deadly clash took place, can be viewed as China’s play or tactics in the global community.

An expert opines that China wants to stir up patriotism and nationalism by revealing the name.

In an interview with ETV Bharat, Sri Kant Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese studies at JNU, said, “China's announcement on the combat casualties is a surprise, although they mention 4 casualties and one critically injured. One among the dead Chen Xiangrong's cremation ground was shown last year”.

The released list of the Chinese casualties during June 15 last year are as follows -Qi Fabio, Regimental Commander, Chen Hongjun, Battalion Commander, Chen Xiangrong, Soldier, Xiao Siyuan, Soldier, Wang Zhuoran, Soldier.

A Reuters report citing Chinese media reported, “Chen Hongjun was posthumously awarded the title of “Hero to defend the border," while the other three were given first-class merit citations”.

On Friday morning, China-state –affiliated media, People’s Daily, quoting Central Military Commission said in a tweet, “Four Chinese soldiers, who were sacrificed in last June's border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with the honorary title”.

• Four Chinese soldiers, who were sacrificed in last June's border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations, Central Military Commission announced Friday. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with honorary title. pic.twitter.com/Io9Wk3pXaU

  — People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 19, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  Four Chinese soldiers, who were sacrificed in last June's border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations, Central Military Commission announced Friday. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with honorary title. pic.twitter.com/Io9Wk3pXaU

  — People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 19, 2021

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  Four Chinese soldiers, who were sacrificed in last June's border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations, Central Military Commission announced Friday. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with honorary title. pic.twitter.com/Io9Wk3pXaU

  — People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 19, 2021

Pointing out that the Russian TASS news agency reported 45 Chinese casualties, Kondapalli further said,” All of these issues are a surprise because of timing. It appears that in the background of vacating the Finger 8 to Finger 4 areas in Pangong Tso, china wants to reassure its public that the 4 soldiers sacrifice will not go waste in future”.

“Secondly, China wants to stir up patriotism and nationalism in the country by releasing this information now. Thirdly, it appears that by releasing this information China is probably signalling that it would not be able to undertake the misadventure once again on the Line of Actual Control with India, given Indian capabilities”, Kondapalli reiterated.

When asked about what is China trying to show to the international community or is China trying to play any tactics, he said, “China is painting a picture of a "responsible" country by vacating Pangong Tso region, even though it had transgressed this area in early 2020”.

While the Indian army has time and again, reiterated its stance that China was the aggressor, there are reports from the Chinese state tabloid which suggest that responsibility of the border skirmish in the Galwan Valley falls on the Indian military. The tabloid also stated that this was the “first time China has unveiled casualties and details of these officers and soldiers’ sacrifice”.

It’s been almost 10 months that the two military Asian giants are engaged in a brawl over border issue in the Ladakh region. It was on June 15 last year, the stand-off escalated when troops from both sides got involved in a deadly crash in the Galwan valley.

Ever since then, there were some or other firing incidents in the border area that came to the forefront.

Several rounds of talks were held to reach an agreement on disengagement and de-escalation. After rigorous efforts, finally, an agreement of disengagement was reached by both sides, showing some sign of positivity.

Although the disengagement has completed in Pangong Tso and the tenth military level talk is scheduled to take place on Saturday at Moldo, at the end of the day, it remains to be seen whether or not China will abide by the present consensus, to ensure peace and tranquillity at the LAC in the future.