China released a video supposed to show the deadly clash between Chinese and Indian military in June 2020 on the Himalayan border between the two countries, which left both sides dead.
As firearms are prohibited in the area, these fights took place hand-to-hand. New Delhi had reported at the time 20 dead in its ranks, but Beijing had not provided a quantified balance sheet on its side.
It was only on Friday, eight months after the clash, that the Chinese Defense Ministry reported the deaths of four Chinese soldiers.
A video then released by public television CCTV shows what it presents as Indian soldiers crossing a river on foot amid the snow-capped peaks of the Karakoram Range.
Equipped with long sticks and shields inscribed with the word “police”, they move towards the Chinese soldiers on the other side. The latter then try to block them with their bodies.
The CCTV report accuses the Indians of crossing the border de facto in order to “provoke” the Chinese military.
The footage then shows groups of soldiers from both sides facing each other in the dark, followed by Chinese on the ground treating one of their own, whose head is covered in blood.
A bilateral agreement banning the use of firearms, clashes between the two countries along their border often take place with stones, fists or other objects.
This high-altitude incident on the border of Tibet and the Indian region of Ladakh was the most serious to pit the two Asian giants since the 1962 blitzkrieg, which saw China easily win over India. .
The Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between India and China, is not clearly demarcated and the two countries have accused each other of having encroached on the territory of China. ‘other.
Beijing and New Delhi had sent tens of thousands of additional troops and heavy weapons to the region following their clash.
The two countries, however, concluded at the beginning of February an agreement of mutual “disengagement” of the troops in one of the disputed sectors of the border.