"If China released the number which is less than 20, the Indian government would again come under pressure," the Global Times tweeted quoting an "observer" from the piece
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha activists burn an effigy of Chinese President Xi Jinping during a protest against the killing of 20 Indian Army soldiers by the Chinese troops, in Shimla, on Monday. Pic/PTI
A day after the media reported that India had handed over bodies of 16 Chinese soldiers to the People's Liberation Army (PLA), China on Monday for the first time admitted that it lost "less than 20" troops during the face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh last week.
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Until now, even as New Delhi had officially announced that 20 of its soldiers were killed in a clash with the PLA in Ladakh's Galwan Valley, Beijing had remained tight-lipped about its casualties. The Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Community Party regime in Beijing, in a piece quoting "Chinese experts" on Monday said that "the reason why China did not release the number" of its casualties, is that China "wants to avoid an escalation."
"If China released the number which is less than 20, the Indian government would again come under pressure," the Global Times tweeted quoting an "observer" from the piece. The Chinese "analysts" and "observers" also accused Indian officials of placating nationalists by "speculating on China's casualties to satisfy Indian hardliners, such as speculating that China lost more soldiers than India."
India-China holds second-level talks
The leadership of the Indian Army on Monday held detailed deliberations on the eastern Ladakh standoff and the situation along the LAC with China, official sources said. On the opening day of a two-day conference, the commanders carried out a comprehensive review of India's security preparedness along the LAC in Ladakh, AP, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, they said.
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