China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has released a new video filmed at the site of the 2020 Galwan Valley clash in which 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed to mark the country’s Martyr’s Day on Thursday.

The video uploaded on China’s social media by the PLA’s Western Theatre Command is part of Beijing’s continuing push to blame India both for the ongoing tensions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Galwan Valley clash in June last year.

The Western Theatre Command is the largest PLA command and is responsible for the Sino-India border, stretching from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.

Several rounds of diplomatic and military talks have failed to fully resolve the tension with disengagement of troops pending at more than one place along the friction points.

The video shows hundreds of PLA soldiers from unit 7895 of the Xinjiang military command standing in rows and shouting military slogans on the rocky banks of a river, flowing through a ravine, between sheer, gray cliffs.

“On the National Martyr’s Day Officers and soldiers of a regiment in Xinjiang Military Command went to the place to remember the heroes and to inherit their legacy,” the report accompanying the video said.

“The Galwan Valley remembers. You gave up your lives to defend the dignity of your country. We sacrifice our youth to make a promise that is as heavy as a mountain,” the report added.

Condolences were extended to the four PLA soldiers killed: Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuran.

In one sequence, PLA soldiers are shown bowing their heads in silence in front of what appears to be machine guns.

Another aerial sequence, possibly shot by a drone, shows the personnel standing in a row on a narrow pathway on the side of a cliff.

Etched in Chinese on a cliff in the background are the words: “Never give up an inch of the beautiful motherland”.

Towards the end of the video, the new leader of the squad, who took over after the death of Xiao Siyuan, is shown pledging to carry forward the “Dagger squad spirit”, comprising qualities like hard work and defending the territorial integrity of the country.

Chinese media outlets have released several videos this year that have sought to portray Indian troops as trespassers and aggressors since the PLA death toll was made public in February this year.

China’s official English channel, CGTN, had uploaded a video on one of the four PLA soldiers who died, Chen Hongjun, on social media and its website to mark the armed forces’ founding day on August 1.

Besides interviews of Chen’s family members including his wife, the video showed edited footage of the clash between the two armies; Chinese equipment on the banks of the fast flowing river, soldiers, mostly Chinese, precariously wading in knee-deep water and personnel from the two sides charging at each other.

The video, evidently pitched as a propaganda piece aimed at a domestic Chinese audience, begins with a one-sided introduction to the 2020, June 15 clash.

“Indian army violated the bilateral consensus and crossed the Line of Actual Control on June 15, 2020,” it claimed, a claim repeatedly dismissed by India.

The videos, which purportedly portrayed the build-up to the Galwan Valley clash, identified the Indian soldiers only as “foreign” troops and the accompanying commentary painted them as trespassers – an allegation consistently denied by India.

In February, several versions of a video, ranging in length from a little more than a minute to eight minutes, were released by outlets such as CGTN and the Global Times, showing troops from the two sides negotiating and jostling with each other. The background comprises ravines, a flowing river, and steep cliffs.