Fact-Check: Old Video Shared as 'Recent India-China Clash in Tawang'

The video has been online since June 2020 and is not from the recent India-China Clash.

Fact-Check: An old video from 2020 is being shared as a recent clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Tawang.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video showing soldiers brawling near snow-clad mountains has gone viral amid reports of a clash between China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang Sector on 9 December, which has reportedly led to injuries on both the sides.

The claim: Those sharing the video claimed that it showed visuals from the recent clash. Some others added that 150 Indian soldiers overpowered 300 PLA troops in Tawang.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

(Archives of more such posts can be found here and here.)

The truth: The video of the skirmish has been on the internet since at least June 2020. It was earlier shared in the backdrop of the Galwan clash in which 20 Indian soldier were killed.

How did we find that out: We used the InVID WeVerify Google Chrome Extension to extract keyframes from the viral video and conducted a reverse image search on some of them using Yandex search engine.

• While going through the results, we came across the video posted on YouTube in June 2020 with a caption, "Indian army smashing chinese at sikkim border 2020."

Comparison of the viral video with the 2020 video.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

• Taking a cue from that, we conducted a keyword search and found news reports that carried the video.

What happened in Tawang?: On 9 December, PLA troops clashed with Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang Sector, leading to personnel of both sides sustaining minor injuries.

• Talking in parliament about the clash, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that "no Indian troops had been killed" and the issue had been diplomatically taken up with China.

Conclusion: Clearly, the video is old. Although we have not been able to independently verify if it is from the 2020 Galwan clash but the fact that it can be traced back to 2020 makes it clear that it is not of the recent clash.

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