US senator Jim Risch has criticized China’s controversial decision to select PLA’s regiment commander Qi Fabao to carry the 2020 Winters Olympics torch at the relay in Beijing. Fabao was one of the PLA officers who was involved in the deadly 2020 Galwan clashes in which 20 Indian Army soldiers laid down their lives. He also criticized China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims allegedly being undertaken by Fabao’s military command.
“It's shameful that #Beijing chose a torchbearer for the #Olympics2022 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 #Uyghur freedoms & the sovereignty of India,” Senator Risch’s official twitter account said. Senator Jim Risch (from the Republican Party) is a ranking member of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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Qi Fabao was part of the scaled-down three-day torch relay for the 2022 Winter Olympics being hosted in China. This move is likely to further aggravate the already tenuous diplomatic relations between India and China on the back of almost two-year stand-off along the LAC in the eastern Ladakh sector.
The Winter Olympics 2022 have already been mired by political controversies as the U.S., the U.K., Taiwan, Canada, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Belgium, Australia and Kosovo have already announced diplomatic boycotts over the Uyghur situation. India had already stated that it would not send an official delegation because of COVID19.
Global Times, said to be the Communist Party’s unofficial mouthpiece, gloried Fabao in a social media post. “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 Wed’s #Beijing2022 Winter Olympic Torch Relay,” Global Times tweeted.
Also read| Chinese Galwan casualties far higher than officially claimed: Australian media
Chinese President Xi Jinping will host more than 30 heads of state for the opening ceremony including Russia President Putin, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The Olympics will begin from 4th February.
