Fact Check: Unrelated images are linked to Indo-China standoff in Tawang
Dramatic footage released by Chinese state media purportedly shows deadly clashes between troops at the Indian border last year — a rare insight into violence at the tense, remote frontier.
Hyderabad: Amid Indo-China clashes in Arunachal Pradesh, social media users are sharing an image with a claim that it shows the confrontation between the Indian army and the People's Liberation Army of China.
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Fact Check:
The claim is misleading.
Firstly, we did a Google reverse image search on the viral photograph and found a report by the Economic Times, dated February 21, 2021, titled 'Galwan clash: China shares dramatic video of mountain clash with Indian troops.'
We found that the report carried the viral image and the report stated, "Dramatic footage released by Chinese state media purportedly shows deadly clashes between troops at the Indian border last year — a rare insight into violence at the tense, remote frontier."
Further, we did a relevant keyword search and found a video uploaded on the official YouTube channel of NDTV on February 20, 2021. The description of the video read, "Hundreds of Indian and Chinese soldiers are seen in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley in a new video of last year's border faceoff tweeted by Chinese state media. The video showing the confrontation between Indian and Chinese soldiers in June last year comes after China officially acknowledged it also suffered casualties in the violent faceoff, and named four officers and soldiers who died in the border clash. India believes over 30 Chinese soldiers were killed in Galwan. Twenty Indian soldiers laid down their lives for the country in the clash."
Around 46 seconds into the video, we noticed the same frame as viral image. Moreover, we found more media outlets' reports in February 2021, carrying same frame and image. We also found the Chinese state broadcaster had released a video to show the "Indo-China Galwan clash" of June 2020.
Hence, the claim is misleading. The viral image has been cropped from a video released by China in February 2021, and is not related to the recent clashes in Tawang.