Digital Desk: According to an investigative Australian newspaper published on Wednesday, February 2 2022, China's casualties in the Galwan Valley conflict in 2020 were significantly greater than reported, with several soldiers dying while crossing a fast-flowing river in the dark.
The Klaxon noted discoveries in the paper by unknown academics and mainland Chinese bloggers, who declined to be named for security reasons, but whose results appear to "shed significant light on the saga".
"Claims of substantial Chinese casualties are not new, however evidence provided by a group of social media researchers, which The Klaxon has independently built on, appears to support claims that China's casualties extended well beyond the four soldiers named by Beijing," it said
According to the article, Beijing has gone to great measures to keep the war from being discussed.
"China's losses in the high-altitude 2020 Galwan Valley border conflict with India — the deadliest confrontation between the two giants in over four decades — were much higher than reported with many soldiers drowning while crossing a fast-flowing, sub-zero river in darkness, new research claims," the report said.
The eastern Ladakh border dispute erupted after the Galwan Valley battles on June 15, 2020.
Twenty members of the Indian Army were killed in the confrontations, which were the most violent military hostilities between the two countries in decades.
China officially admitted that five Chinese military commanders and troops were killed in battles with the Indian Army in February of last year, while it is commonly assumed that the death toll was far higher.
The Klaxon cited a report into the matter titled "Galwan Decoded" that it said has been prepared by a group of social media researchers.
"The researchers have declined to be named on security grounds, but their findings appear to shed significant light on the saga," it said.
According to the Klaxon, the study was based on a year-long research that included interactions with mainland Chinese bloggers, information collected from mainland Chinese residents, and media publications that Chinese officials have since erased.
"A lot of facts about what really happened, what led to the skirmish, have been hidden by Beijing," it quoted from the report.
Following a severe skirmish in the Pangong lake area on May 5, 2020, the border stalemate in eastern Ladakh erupted. Both sides steadily increased their deployment by bringing in tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy equipment.
Last year, the two parties concluded the disengagement process in Gogra and on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake, as a result of a series of military and diplomatic negotiations.
Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control in the sensitive sector.
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