A top United States Senator, Jim Risch, condemned Beijing for choosing a torchbearer for the winter games who was a part of the military command that attacked India in Galwan skirmish last year.
Jim Risch, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member tweeted “it’s shameful that #Beijing chose a torchbearer for the #Olympic2022 who’s part of the military command that attacked India in 2020 and is implementing genocide against the #Uyghurs The U.S. will cont. to support #Uyghurs freedoms & the sovereignty of India.
Qi Fabao, the regimental commander of the People’s Liberation Army Xinjiang military command, who suffered a serious head injury during the Galwan valley clash, took the flame from Wang Meng, China’s four-time Olympic short track speed skating champion, Global Times reported.
“Qi Fabao, a PLA regiment commander who sustained head injury while fighting bravely in the Galwan Valley border skirmish with India, is a torchbearer during Wednesday’s Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Torch Relay,” China state-affiliated Global Times confirmed in a tweet.
It has been over an year since the troops clashed in violent hand-to-hand combat in the Galwan Valley that resulted in casualties on both sides. China has aggressively used images and symbolism related to the clash, projecting that it had the upper hand, even as the two nations continue to be embroiled in a standoff that began in May last year.
China is believed to be hiding its losses in the Galwan valley clash. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in action.
New research has shown that the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, lost nine times more soldiers than its official count of four, news agency ANI reported.
