NEW DELHI:With the single act of deputing Colonel Qi Fabao to be a torchbearer for the Beijing Winter Olympics torch relay run on Wednesday, China has escalated the vexed border issue with India to a new level besides according legitimacy to the Chinese stand in front of a global audience. The move has also queered the pitch for an amicable resolution of the issue even as 14 rounds of talks between the two militaries have already taken place. The said PLA officer Qi was part of a retinue of about 130 people who took part in the relay run that included sports personalities, anti-COVID heroes, and space scientists, who ranged in age from 41 to 80 years.
Col Qi’s deputation to hold the torch is in sync with China’s new border law that came into effect from January 1, 2022 and is being used to spur and spread patriotic feelings besides according primacy to the border dispute with India. Article 11 of the new border law states: “The State shall strengthen publicity and education on land borders, build a strong sense of community of the Chinese nation, carry forward the spirit of the Chinese nation in defending the unity and territorial integrity of the motherland, and enhance citizens' national concept and homeland security awareness, build a common spiritual home for the Chinese nation.”
On November 5, 2021, Qi was awarded the title of “Hero Regimental Commander for Defending the Border” by the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) while the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee honoured him with the “July 1 Medal”. The Galwan incident of June 15, 2020 was a brutal fistfight between Indian and Chinese soldiers—on the disputed stretch of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) near the Galwan river in eastern Ladakh—speeding up a massive mobilization of soldiers and war equipment to be deployed along the border.
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The deployment continues with no resolution of the issue in clear sight till now. While the PLA declared five deaths in the Galwan incident besides the severe head injury of Col Qi—who was the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command—India lost 20 soldiers including the commanding officer Colonel B Santosh Babu in the clash that was fought by both sides with spiked clubs, stones and iron rods.
On February 19, 2021, China had unleashed a propaganda war by putting out videos on twitter handles showing Qi Fabao holding out against advancing India soldiers in a manner showing the latter as aggressors. The same day, the CMC named five officers and soldiers—Qi Fabao and four soldiers—Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran—as having received recognition for displaying heroism in the Galwan incident. Other than Qi, the other four died during the brawl. And on August 1, 2021, Chinese state-owned TV media carried visuals of Qi from a high-powered CMC meeting still sporting the head scar that he obtained during the Galwan skirmish.
Significantly, just a day before, China’s National People's Congress (NPC) had passed a special law that sought “to protect the dignity and rights of military personnel in China”. Chinese state-owned agencies had reported that the new law ensured that “no organization or individual may in any way slander or belittle the dignity of soldiers, insult or slander the honour of soldiers, and must not damage or defile the honors given to soldiers.” It also said that the “honours obtained by a soldier shall be enjoyed for life, and shall not be revoked except for statutory reasons or through statutory procedures.”
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On May 31, a popular Chinese blogger Qiu Ziming, with more than 2.5 million followers, was sentenced to jail for eight months after he questioned the PLA toll in the Galwan Valley clash. Besides alleging that the PLA had under-reported its losses, Qiu had written that the commanding officer survived as he was a high ranking officer.
