China says move to field Galwan valley soldier in Winter Olympic torch relay met 'standards'

The act of China deploying PLA commander Qi Fabio, who had suffered several injuries during the 2020 Galwan valley clash, as the torchbearer of the Olympics, has been viewed as the country politicizing the winter games.

New Delhi:In yet another audacious propaganda move, China on Monday defended the appointment of Galwan commander as Olympic torchbearer. This comes even as last week India announced to diplomatically boycott the Winter Olympics. The act of China deploying PLA commander Qi Fabio, who had suffered several injuries during the 2020 Galwan valley clash, as the torchbearer of the Olympics, has been viewed as the country politicizing the winter games.

Defending Fabio's appointment, China on Monday said, “Choosing the Galwan commander meets relevant standards and relevant sides can view this in national and objective light”. Such a move by China has provoked New Delhi as by doing so, China has once again raked up the border issue with India in front of the international community even as both sides continue talks on disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

On February 2, just days before the Beijing Olympics, China’s official mouthpiece Global times reported that Fabio, a PLA regiment commander of the Xinjiang military command who sustained a head injury while fighting in the Galwan Valley skirmish with India, was the torchbearer during Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Torch Relay.

The report said that Fabio, the regimental commander from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Xinjiang military command took the flame from Wang Meng, China's four-time Olympic short track speed skating champion, at Winter Olympic Park on February 2. When passing the flame, Wang and Qi made military salutes to each other. The appointment of the Galwan commander was seen as the politicization of the event, which has been diplomatically boycotted by many countries.

Last week, in response to ETV Bharat’s question on the issue, the MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “It is regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicize the event like the Olympics”. He announced that the Charge’ affairs of the Indian embassy in Beijing will not be attending the opening or the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, China has hit out at different countries, especially the West for a diplomatic boycott of the winter Olympics. Many countries including the US, the UK, and Australia had said that their officials would not attend the opening ceremony citing reasons like China’s human rights violation in the western province of Xinjiang.

Twenty Indian Army personnel laid down their lives in the Galwan clashes that marked the most serious military conflicts between India and China in decades. In February last year, China officially acknowledged that five Chinese military officers and soldiers were killed in the Galwan clashes with the Indian Army though it is widely believed that the death toll was as high as 50.

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