Chinese Netizen Claims PLA Deaths in Indo-China Border Clash, Arrested

A Chinese netizen has claimed PLA soldiers died during the June 2020 Indo-China border clash attributing the PLA fatalities to poor quality of the Dongfeng off-road vehicles used by the Chinese military.

He was subsequently arrested and made to write an apology letter clearing the Dongfeng Off-road company.

A report in the official news website of the PLA said on August 6, “A netizen surnamed Zhou was arrested by the police in accordance with the law.” He was charged with spreading rumours online by saying that “the poor quality of military vehicles supplied by the Dongfeng Off-road Company has caused the death (sic) of Chinese soldiers during the China-India border clash”.

The netizen had reportedly posted the comment on his wechat account which attracted attention of the authorities’ attention. It is not clear how the netizen, Zhao established any link between Chinese soldiers’ deaths with the Dongfeng off-road vehicles.

China has so far refused to give out figures of casualties on its side. It has not admitted to any deaths. India has acknowledged the deaths of 20 soldiers in the clash in the Galwan valley.

The Dongfeng Mengshi off-road 4×4 vehicles are a popular choice of PLA troops in mountainous areas. Chinese official media has published a number of images of soldiers in these vehicles training in “plateau regions,” a euphemism for areas close to the border with India.  

The Chinamil.com.cn report reads:

Zhou was arrested by local police on August 4 and “confessed to his crime of rumour-mongering, showed remorse, and wrote a sincere apology letter”.  The apology letter is posted on the chinamil.com.cn website.

On August 3, after learning via the Internet that online-user Zhou had posted rumors on his WeChat Moments by claiming that internal corruption of the Dongfeng Company had led to the poor quality of the its military vehicles, which resulted in the casualties of Chinese soldiers on the China-India border, the Dongfeng Company immediately reported to the local police and established a special working group to investigate and verify the case.

At about 18:00 on August 4, Zhou was arrested by local police. He confessed to his crime of rumor-mongering, showed remorse, and wrote a sincere apology letter.

The Dongfeng company has been engaged in the R&D and manufacturing of high-mobility off-road vehicles for military operations for a long time, being considered as China’s top military vehicles manufacturer.

The Chinamil.com.cn report reads:

Zhou was arrested by local police on August 4 and “confessed to his crime of rumour-mongering, showed remorse, and wrote a sincere apology letter”.  The apology letter is posted on the chinamil.com.cn website.

On August 3, after learning via the Internet that online-user Zhou had posted rumors on his WeChat Moments by claiming that internal corruption of the Dongfeng Company had led to the poor quality of the its military vehicles, which resulted in the casualties of Chinese soldiers on the China-India border, the Dongfeng Company immediately reported to the local police and established a special working group to investigate and verify the case.

At about 18:00 on August 4, Zhou was arrested by local police. He confessed to his crime of rumor-mongering, showed remorse, and wrote a sincere apology letter.

The Dongfeng company has been engaged in the R&D and manufacturing of high-mobility off-road vehicles for military operations for a long time, being considered as China’s top military vehicles manufacturer.