Old Visuals From 2020 Shared as Recent Clash Between India-China in Tawang

The video was released by China after the skirmish between India and China in 2020.

Two photographs showing a clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers and a video showing a member of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) nursing a bleeding solider has gone viral on the internet in the backdrop of the recent clash between the two countries in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang Sector.

The claim: The photographs are being shared with a claim that 300 Indian soldiers were killed in the clash, whereas the video showing a bleeding Chinese soldier was shared to claim that PLA troops were injured in the recent clash.

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The truth: Both the photograph and video were shared in November 2021 by Chinese state media. According to China, the visuals showed the skirmish that took place between the two countries in the Galwan valley in June 2020.

Further, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha that no Indian soldier died in the clash.

How did we find the truth about the pictures?: We conducted a reverse image search on the images using the Yandex search engine and found one of the images on Reddit, posted on 7 November 2021.

• The image was titled, "Indian and Chinese soldiers clash at Galwan Valley, June 2020."

• Taking a cue from that, we conducted a keyword search and found the images on Twitter from a journalist called Shen Shiwei, whose Twitter account is labelled as 'China state-affiliated media.'

🚨New pictures of last June's #Galwan clash emerged on social media, showing surrendered Indian soldiers captured by Chinese PLA.

Indian soldiers violated newly-reached consensus and launched provocative attacks against Chinese personnel, leading to serious physical conflicts. pic.twitter.com/8oZO9D4noL

— Shen Shiwei 沈诗伟 (@shen_shiwei) November 7, 2021

• The tweet also said that the images were from the skirmish that took place in June 2020 in Galwan which claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers.

• We also found the first image in a video uploaded by Hong Kong-based Chinese media organisation South China Morning Post on 9 September 2020.

What about the video?: While conducting a keyword search, we found a clip on NBC News that carried the viral video, published on 19 February 2021.

• According to the report, the video was released by Chinese state broadcaster and it showed the fight between Indian and Chinese troops in 2020.

• We also found a longer version of the video on Chinese media organisation Global Times that carried statements from the Chinese military on the clash, including the information on the fallen Chinese soldiers.

What happened in Tawang?: Chinese troops clashed with Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang Sector on 9 December, leading to personnel of both sides sustaining injuries.

• According to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, "no Indian troops had been killed" in the clash.

• Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that the border situation was "generally stable" and claimed that  Indian soldiers "illegally" crossed a disputed border in the Himalayas and "obstructed" Chinese troops.

Conclusion: We have been able to trace one of the photographs back to 2020 and the other two visuals to 2021. As per the available information, they are from the 2020 Galwan skirmish.

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