China CAPTURED 10 Indian soldiers during the recent border clash!

via Bloomberg

China’s military has released 10 Indian soldiers captured on Monday during deadly clashes between troops from the two nations along their contested Himalayan border, senior Indian officials with knowledge of the matter said.

The Indian Government did not ever confirm the troops -- including two officers -- were missing. Instead it issued a statement on Thursday saying there were no soldiers missing in action.

Their release followed talks between senior military commanders in Galwan, the officials said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public.

The skirmishes with stones, iron rods and bamboo poles wrapped in barbed wire laced with nails left 20 Indian soldiers dead along with an unknown number of Chinese casualties. The scuffle is the worst border incident between the two nations in at least 45 years, and signaled a sharp deterioration in ties between the two regional giants.

The violence broke out Monday afternoon and went on until midnight on the Tibetan plateau along the freezing Galwan river.

Indian Army spokesman Aman Anand declined to comment, while India’s spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srivastava, referred Bloomberg to the one-line statement denying Indian soldiers were missing.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Curious.

I really can't explain this except that is magnanimous behavior on the part of the Chinese AND it appears to be an attempt at de-escalation.

Gotta give credit where it's due.

This move plays to even a critic like myself of the Chinese govt so it should play extremely well in the court of international opinion.

On the other side of the table is the Indian govt reaction.

Surely they knew that their soldiers had been captured.  So why no mention of it?  Did they assume that the Chinese would kill them?  I don't know but its curious indeed.

More to come.  Obviously alot more happened on that mountain pass than we're being told.