A photo is being shared on social media as the one related to the clashes at Eastern Ladakh between Indian and Chinese troops. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of recent clashes between Indian and Chinese troops at Eastern Ladakh.
Fact: Photo in the post shows a Joint military exercise carried out between Indian and Chinese troops at Eastern Ladakh during 2016. It is an old photo and has nothing to do with the ongoing clashes between India and Chinese troops at Eastern Ladakh. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, we found a similar photo in an article published by ‘Rediff’ website on ‘20 October 2016’. Sharing this photo in the article, it is mentioned as one of the stills from joint military exercise carried out between Indian and Chinese troops at Eastern Ladakh. This exercise was held in the Indian side of Line of Actual Control on ‘19 October 2016’. Northern Command of Indian Army shared the same photo in a tweet posted on their official handle on ‘20 October 2016’. It is mentioned in the tweet that a Joint Sino-Indian Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster relief exercise conducted by soldiers in Ladakh.
The Government of India in a press note on 31 August 2020, mentioned about a fresh standoff between the Indian and Chinese soldiers on the intervening night of 29/30 August 2020. An incident of firing is also reported on 08 September 2020, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh sector where the troops of India and China have been engaged in a stand-off for over three months.
To sum it up, an old photo is now falsely shared as the recent clashes between Indian and Chinese troops at Eastern Ladakh.
