Qi Fabao’s selection follows other recent moves by authorities to put the Galwan Valley conflict in the public spotlight
A People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regiment commander, who was involved in conflict with India in Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, was selected by the Chinese government to carry the Winter Olympic torch at Wednesday’s torch relay in Beijing.
The Winter Olympics will open on Friday in a grand ceremony attended by more than a dozen world leaders, including President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, five Central Asian presidents and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.
A torch relay was organized in the capital on Wednesday with 1,200 torchbearers. Among them, run by the Communist Party Global Times Reportedly, Qi Faibao was the regiment commander, who was later honored by the Chinese military after suffering a head injury in the Galwan Valley conflict on June 15, 2020.
He took on four-time Olympic short track speed skating champion Wang Meng of China at the Winter Olympic Park on Wednesday. Global Times said.
China has previously accused Western nations of “politicizing” the Games by the US, Britain, Australia and Canada, saying that their officials will not attend the opening ceremony in Xinjiang due to human rights violations, although their athletes are taking part in the Winter Games. Huh.
In this image taken from video footage played by China’s CCTV on February 19, 2021, China’s People’s Liberation Army Regimental Commander Qi Faibao, second from left, talks with members of the Indian Army as Indians in the Galwan Valley on Jun And the Chinese soldiers face off. 15, 2020 | photo Credit: AP
The Chinese government continues to put the Galwan conflict in the public spotlight, while the two sides continue talks on disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
On Tuesday, the first day of the new “Year of the Tiger”, China’s state channel China Central Television (CCTV) began broadcasting a five-part documentary on PLA troops of Xinjiang Military Command deployed along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. The first episode featured border patrols, including a flag hoisting ceremony held in the Galwan Valley and patrol boats on Spanggur Lake, south of Pangong Lake. A preview of the series included interviews with relatives of PLA soldiers who were killed in the Galwan conflict.
In July last year, Mr. Xi presented the Communist Party’s 1st July Medal, to mark its 100-year anniversary, on Chen Hongjun, one of four PLA soldiers killed in the Galwan conflict. In February 2021, the Chinese military announced posthumous honors for Chen and three others, finally confirming that he had suffered casualties eight months after the conflict. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in the clash that erupted along the India-China border in the most serious violence since 1967.
Mr. Xi said in July that the medal recipients “maintained a steadfast faith” that was to “stay true to the original aspiration and dedicate everything, even precious lives, to the party and the people”. .
Last year the Chinese military also organized a series of activities across the country so that more people in China “know how PLA heroes, including the martyrs of the Galwan Valley conflict, guarded and protected the country’s borders”, as of last year. stated in the report.
,