February 03, (THEWILL) – A ranking member of the influential US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jim Risch, has slammed China’s choice to name an army officer as the torchbearer for the Beijing Winter Olympics, after he was injured in a battle with Indian soldiers.
According to local media, the Chinese army’s regimental commander, who was critically injured in a brutal clash with Indian troops in Galwan Valley in June 2020, was named the torchbearer for the Beijing Games. According to experts in China government and politics, the decision is a clear indicator that the Beijing Games have become politicised.
Risch, using the official account of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted: “It’s shameful that Beijing chose a torchbearer for the Olympics 2022, who’s part of the military command that attacked India in 2020 and is implementing genocide against the Uyghurs. The US will continue to support Uyghur freedoms and the sovereignty of India.”
Qi Fabao, the regimental commander of the People’s Liberation Army’s Xinjiang military command, who took the flame from Wang Meng, China’s four-time Olympic short track speed skater champion, sustained a critical head injury during the Galwan valley conflict.
China is thought to be concealing its losses in the conflict in the Galwan Valley. In the course of the battle, twenty Indian soldiers were killed. According to new study, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), lost nine times as many soldiers as the official tally of four.
According to an article in the Australian newspaper, The Klaxon, at least 38 PLA personnel drowned while crossing a fast-flowing, sub-zero river in the dark, citing a study compiled by a group of social media researchers following a year-long inquiry.
Only one of the four troops China has verified to have been killed, Junior Sergeant Wang Zhuoran, is claimed to have drowned, in official releases from China.
But the report highlighted a year-long inquiry that included interactions with mainland Chinese bloggers, information received from mainland Chinese individuals, and media reports that Chinese officials have since erased.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
