Every now and then the Indian media puts its credibility at stake. The latest case was on 31 August when two reputed channels in the country ran a news story. It is claimed that they have evidence which proves that more than 40 Chinese soldiers were killed in the June clash between India and China.
Aaj Tak and its English counterpart India Today broadcasted a video of a cemetery. They claimed that the graves are of Chinese soldiers who died in the Galwan clash and were buried at Kangxiwa war memorial. Images show graves being visited by PLA soldiers as proof of China’s massive Galwan casualties.
On the other hand, Times Now in its report displayed photographs with an aerial view of graves with Chinese characters on them.
Many social media users shared the same claim:
Fact Check/Verification
The video broadcasted by AajTak was uploaded on Weibo. A simple Reverse Image Search took us to the video.
A Weibo user had shared this video with a caption which reads, “Before retiring from the military service, warrior Sun Yuanhong together with other elder soldiers from Xinjiang military region coming to visit the military cemetery located at the highest altitude (martyrs cemetery Kangxiwa) to say goodbye to the warriors. Wei Zhengjie, who joined the military service the same year as Sun, is buried here. Bro, I don’t know whether I have a chance to come and visit again, I miss you…”
A frame in the video had a Chinese subtitle which translates: Wei, born in 1999 was sacrificed in the training course by accident last year.
Which means the many graves in the video had a grave of a soldier who died in 2019.
Kangxiwa Martyrs Cemetery
According to the information gathered from the internet, the Kangxiwa War Memorial was established in 1965 after the 1962 Indo-China battle. A total of 106 soldiers who died were buried in the cemetery.
India Today Used An Old Image As Evidence Of Chinese Casualty
A photograph shared by India Today claims that these graves being visited by PLA soldiers is proof of China’s massive Galwan casualties. In reality, the photograph turned out to be an old one.
Viral Image Of A Tombstone
Times Now aired a viral picture of tombstone which had Chinese characters.
We reached out to a language expert for translation. According to the translator the tombstone says:
“69316 troop warrior from Fuchan. Born in December 2001 and died in 2020 during the conflicts with the Indian border. Awarded with 1st order award by the central government. The memorial of warrior Chen Xiang Rong
2020 August.”
However, whether the picture is from the Kangxiwa Martyr Cemetry has not been confirmed.
Alt News has also done a fact check on this claim.
Conclusion
Times Now and Aaj Tak aired old images and video out of context as evidence of Chinese casualty during Galwan Face-off with India. It is still unknown how many Chinese soldiers were killed in the Indo-China clash in the Galwan Valley on 15 June.
Result: Misleading
Our Sources
Chinese Website: https://www.openyiyun.com/a/xinwenzhongxin/xingyezixun/134.html
Weibo: https://weibo.com/5743911236/JhTHah7Ocrefer_flag=1001030103_&type=comment#_rnd1599216608366
Weibo: https://bit.ly/Weibosearch
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