Beijing suffers light casualties in China-India border skirmish but keeps quiet to avoid conflict escalation

Chinese soldiers reported to have light injuries from June 15 border fighting in which 20 Indian soldiers died

Both countries claim deadly clash took place on their side of Line of Actual Control and accuse each other of breaking agreement

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Indian army trucks on a highway leading to Ladakh. India has reportedly deployed high altitude warfare forces along the Line of Actual Control in northern India after skirmishes with China. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:10pm, 24 Jun 2020Updated: 3:36pm, 29 Jun 2020

Corrected [3:34pm, 29 Jun, 2020]

[3:34pm, 29 Jun, 2020]
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Wang Dehua was from the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

Chinese soldiers received only “light injuries” during the skirmish with Indian soldiers along the contested border in the western Himalayas last week, sources said.

The incident on June 15 in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed and at least 76 injured in the Galwan Valley was “entirely the responsibility of India”, a spokesman for China’s defence ministry said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Beijing has been reluctant to comment publicly on any casualties from the incident. On Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian dismissed as “fake news” Indian media reports which claimed 40 Chinese soldiers had been killed.

Three separate sources told the South China Morning Post that only a small number of PLA officers were injured during the brawl.

They did not give a definite number, but said China’s casualty count was much lower than India’s and Beijing had remained silent to avoid provoking New Delhi and escalating tensions.

Wu Qian, China’s defence ministry spokesman, said on Wednesday that the clash was caused by India’s provocation.