Top US senator pans China for choosing Galwan soldier as Olympic torchbearer

After China chose People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regiment commander Qi Fabao to carry the torch at this week’s Winter Olympics relay in Beijing, the controversial move drew a frosty reception in India in light of the fact that that the torchbearer was, in fact, one of the commanding officers involved in clashes against India at Ladakh’s Galwan Valley about two years ago.

Now, a top United States Senator has joined in on the debate. Jim Risch, ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, on Thursday, condemned Beijing for choosing a torchbearer for the winter games who was a part of the military command that attacked India in 2020 and is also “implementing genocide against the Uyghurs”, the characterisation of another allegation often levelled against China for cracking down on its ethnic and religious minorities in the Xinjiang region.

Calling China’s actions “shameful”, Senator Risch reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to supporting Uyghur freedom and the sovereignty of India.

While foreign policy experts, journalists, and political commentators raised a barrage of objections against the inclusion of the Chinese soldier in the traditional torch relay at the sports event, it fell to deaf ears to an expansionist Beijing which has time and again displayed its intention to keep the Galwan clashes in the public spotlight despite both sides continuing talks on disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Qi Fabao, the Chinese regiment commander, was among the troops present in 2020 during the high-altitude Himalayan skirmishes in Ladakh. Troops fought a fatal hand-to-hand battle that left at least 20 Indians and four Chinese soldiers dead, though it took Beijing eight months to acknowledge the casualties on its own side.

After reporting his inclusion among the Olympics’ 1,200 torchbearers, China’s state media Global Times feted Qi – who sustained a serious head injury during the fighting – as a “hero” for his role in the Himalayan battle.

Qi appeared on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in December and said he was “ready to return to the battlefield and fight again”.

Both India and China had poured tens of thousands of extra troops into and around the Galwan Valley after the 2020 clash. While high-level talks late last year failed to ease tensions in the region, government officials familiar with the developments say disengagement talks have been continuing on the right track.

The Winter Olympics, in the meanwhile, opens on Friday but have been dogged by politics and coronavirus disease (Covid-19) fears. The US and several other Western nations are staging a diplomatic boycott of the winter games over human rights concerns relating to China’s treatment of Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang.