BEIJING: China’s defence ministry has named four soldiers killed in a brawl with Indian forces last year, the first confirmation of deaths by Beijing from the border clash that also killed at least 20 Indian soldiers.
The Chinese soldiers “sacrificed themselves” during the June confrontation in the contested Galwan Valley border area with Indian troops, the ministry said.
In mid-June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a brutal, high-altitude border battle in the Galwan valley in one of the deadliest clashes between the two sides in recent decades.
Beijing at the time acknowledged that the clash had resulted in casualties but did not confirm if any Chinese soldiers died.
Battalion commander Chen Hongjun and three other soldiers have been given posthumous awards, the defence ministry said.
