Salman Khan's 'Battle Of Galwan' Angers China. A Look Back At 2020 Clash

The deadly clash at Galwan between Indian and Chinese troops five years ago is still a sore point that stings from time to time. Like now, when a movie has been made on it. China has vehemently objected to what it called "misrepresentation of facts". India has retorted with "artistic license".  

Behind the artistic freedom, though, are chilling facts -- a pitched battle in the pitch dark in sub-zero temperature that involved batons and nailed clubs and led to many deaths: 20 from India, four from China, though Indian army sources have indicated that the actual Chinese casualty count is likely to be higher. The fallout was a chill in bilateral relations between India and China that is still not 100 per cent normal. 

It all started on June 15, 2020, when a small band of Indian troops moved to remove a Chinese tent in the Galwan river valley -- an area 15,000 feet above the sea level on the Karakoram range, located in Ladakh, near the Line of Actual Control.  

China had agreed to remove the tent after talks that took place on June 6 and create a buffer zone.

Read: India's Sharp Counter After China's Criticism Of Salman Khan's Galwan Film

But a fight broke out after the Chinese soldiers targeted the Indian Colonel, BL Santosh Babu. Reinforcements were called in by both sides and the clash escalated. By the time it ended -- after nearly six hours - around 40 Chinese soldiers were dead. India lost 20 bravehearts.

Several Indian and Chinese soldiers had fallen into the Galwan river and the resulting hypothermia proved fatal. 

China though, said only four soldiers had died and of them, only one, Junior Sergeant Wang Zhuoran- had drowned.

An accurate number was never arrived at. More than two years later, an Australian investigative newspaper "The Klaxon" reported that "at least 38 PLA (People's Liberation Army) troops along with Wang were washed away and drowned that night... of whom only Wang was declared among the four officially dead soldiers". 

Citing "several Weibo users" as its sources, it said the Chinese soldiers had fallen into the river while attempting to cross it in the first minutes of the fight.

What followed was a stern face-off, contradictory statements from China and years of chill that had only recently started thawing. 
India said the clash arose from "an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo" on the border. Beijing pointed fingers at the Indian troops. 

There was controversy over the number of dead as well. New Delhi officially acknowledged that it lost 20 soldiers while Beijing initially denied any casualties. Later, it claimed it lost just four soldiers.

This time, an article in China's state-run newspaper, Global Times, alleged that Galwan Valley is located on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control. It also placed the responsibility of the June 2020 clashes on India, claiming that Indian troops crossed over the LAC and provoked a fight.

"The Bollywood films at most provide an entertainment-driven, emotionally charged portrayal, but no amount of cinematic exaggeration can rewrite the history or shake the PLA's determination to defend China's sovereign territory," the article read.