China-India border: state media marks second anniversary of Galwan Valley clash in lead-up to new talks

Name: China shares video of deadly 2020 border clash with Indian troops in Galwan Valley
Uploaded: 2022-06-16T09:25:44.000Z
Duration: 1 min 31 s
Description: China shares video of deadly 2020 border clash with Indian troops in Galwan Valley

CCTV military channel publishes three-minute video salute to four dead PLA soldiers on social media, drawing 4.36 million views on Weibo by noon on Thursday

2020 border clash left at least 20 Indians dead, New Delhi expects to hold 16th round of talks with Beijing soon to ‘resolve the remaining issues along the LAC’

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Chinese state media commemorated the second anniversary of the Galwan Valley clash with India on Wednesday. Some 20 Indian soldiers and four PLA soldiers are reported to have died in the skirmish in 2020. Photo: Weibo

Laura Zhou

Published: 5:25pm, 16 Jun 2022Updated: 6:10pm, 16 Jun 2022

Chinese state media marked the second anniversary of the deadly Galwan Valley clash with India on Wednesday as the two militaries prepare to hold the next round of talks aimed at a full disengagement at their disputed border.

A nearly three-minute video of comrades-in-arms tearfully sharing memories of 18-year-old Chen Xiangrong, one of the four soldiers China confirmed were killed in the conflict two years ago, was published by the military channel of state broadcaster CCTV on its Weibo microblog on Wednesday.

The video excerpt from a five-episode documentary, Motherland Engraved, that was first released in February, included an interview with Chen’s comrade-in-arms who took a photo of a smiling Chen at a bonfire party.

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China shares video of deadly 2020 border clash with Indian troops in Galwan Valley

“Every time I took a photo of him, he smiled at me,” said Chen Wei, the 23-year-old photographer, “and he asked me, could you take a photo for me?”

“Why didn’t I take more photos of him?” said Chen Wei, who is not related to Chen Xiangrong.

By noon on Thursday, the video had been viewed 4.36 million times on Weibo and was reposted by other state media outlets including People’s Daily.

The anniversary came as the two militaries are expected to meet again for talks to resolve the border disputes. On May 31, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement the two sides had agreed to hold the 16th round of military talks soon to “resolve the remaining issues along the LAC [Line of Actual Control] at the earliest” to create conditions for bilateral relations to return to normal.