China govt ‘planned’ Galwan clash, says US commission report

The Chinese government “planned” the Galwan Valley incident in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed and an unconfirmed number of casualties were suffered on the Chinese side in the Ladakh region, a US commission has said in its latest report to Congress.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), in its ‘2020 Report to Congress’ under ‘US-China Security, Politics, And Foreign Affairs’, said, “In June 2020, the PLA and Indian troops engaged in a massive physical brawl in the Galwan Valley, located in the far-western Ladakh region along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) separating the two countries. The clash, which followed a series of standoffs beginning in early May along multiple sectors of the LAC, led to at least 20 Indian deaths and an unconfirmed number of Chinese casualties, the first time since 1975 that lives were lost in fighting between the two sides.”

It added, “Some evidence suggested the Chinese government had planned the incident, potentially including the possibility for fatalities. For instance, several weeks prior to the clash, Defense Minister Wei made his statement encouraging Beijing to ‘use fighting to promote stability’.”

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In ‘Section 1: Year in Review: Security, Politics, And Foreign Affairs’, the report pointed out how China had “warned” India just over two weeks before the Galwan incident.

“Just over two weeks before the incident, in another potential indication of Chinese leaders signaling their intent to escalate tensions, an editorial in China’s state-owned tabloid Global Times warned that India would suffer a ‘devastating blow’ to its trade and economic ties with China if it got ‘involved in the US-China rivalry’. Satellite images depicted a large Chinese buildup in the Galwan Valley, including potentially 1,000 PLA soldiers, the week before the deadly skirmish,” the report said.

It also said how China had “asserted sovereignty” over the entire Galwan Valley. “China has also built extensive infrastructure along the LAC in recent years. In the aftermath of the clash, Beijing asserted sovereignty over the entire Galwan Valley, a new claim and significant change to the territorial status quo.”

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“Beijing ramped up its multiyear coercion campaign against its neighbors, provoking military or paramilitary standoffs with countries from Japan to India and much of Southeast Asia. Shortly after China’s defense minister urged Beijing to use military force to stabilize its periphery, a violent clash on the China-India border in June led to the first loss of life between the two countries since 1975,” it said.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created by the United States Congress in October 2000 with the legislative mandate to monitor, investigate, and submit to Congress an annual report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, and to provide recommendations, where appropriate, to Congress for legislative and administrative action, the commission said on its website.