We don’t want to see more clashes: Beijing
Both foreign minister Wang Yi in his phone call with external affairs minister, S Jaishankar, and the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian remained silent on the aspect despite talking about casualties sustained in the flare-up.
China on Wednesday continued its silence on the casualties suffered by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Monday’s deadly border clash that left 20 Indian soldiers dead in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley.
Both foreign minister Wang Yi in his phone call with external affairs minister, S Jaishankar, and the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian remained silent on the aspect despite talking about casualties sustained in the flare-up.
Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian refused to share details – including the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) casualties – and repeatedly said border troops from both countries were dealing with the matter on the ground.
China and India are in close communication on resolving relevant issues through both diplomatic and military channels, Zhao said, adding that China “…does not want to see more clashes”.
At the regular ministry briefing on Wednesday, Zhao stalled queries on Chinese casualties.
“As I said, the border troops of the two sides are dealing with the specifics on the ground. I have no information to release here,” he said when asked about the numbers.
Hu Shisheng, a Beijing-based south Asia expert said it could be because China wants to keep domestic reaction quiet.
“It seems that both sides, especially the Chinese side want to calm down the whole situation,” Hu, from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told HT.
Wang Dehua from the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies said he was optimistic about the future as “…neither side has the intention or reason to let the situation get out of hand”.
The editor of Global Times Hu Xijin had tweeted on Tuesday -- without elaborating -- that the PLA too had sustained casualties.
“Chinese side didn’t release number of PLA casualties in clash with Indian soldiers. My understanding is the Chinese side doesn’t want people of the two countries to compare the casualties’ numbers so to avoid stoking public mood. This is goodwill from Beijing.”
On China’s Twitter-like social media platform, Weibo, millions of Chinese citizens shared and commented on Monday’s incident: By Wednesday evening, it was trending at the top of the “hot search” option on the platform.
Many talked about the casualties that the Indian army suffered, discussing reasons why the situation went out of control and descended into violence.
Some speculated about PLA’s possible fatalities and injuries as well.
Chinese state media have followed the government in squarely blaming India for the situation without - expectedly - raising any question about the lack of details available.
“The incident happened during a patrol and both sides suffered injuries and casualties, with this being the most severe situation China and India have experienced along the border in more than four decades and may render previous efforts to defuse border disputes fruitless,” Qian Feng, director of the research department of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing, told the nationalistic tabloid Global Times.
