‘Shameful’ that China choose PLA soldier involved in Galwan clash as Olympics torchbearer, says US lawmaker

A US lawmaker has slammed China for selecting the Folks’s Liberation Military’s regimental commander, concerned within the Galwan valley conflict as a torchbearer for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Torch Relay.

China’s Folks’s Liberation Military’s regimental commander, who had suffered extreme accidents throughout the Galwan conflict, turned the torchbearer on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Torch Relay on Wednesday.

“It is shameful that Beijing selected a torchbearer for the Olympics2022 who’s a part of the navy command that attacked India in 2020 and is implementing genocide in opposition to the Uyghurs. The US will proceed to assist Uyghur freedoms and the sovereignty of India,” stated Senator Jim Risch, a Republican who’s a Rating Member of the US Senate Overseas Relations Committee.

Qi Fabao, the regimental commander who suffered a severe head harm throughout the Galwan Valley border skirmish on June 15, 2020, took the flame from China’s four-time Olympic brief observe pace skating champion, at Winter Olympic Park, State media outlet World Occasions reported on Wednesday.

This got here as a report revealed that China is hiding its losses within the Galwan Valley conflict with India. The brand new analysis has proven that the PLA misplaced not less than 9 instances extra troopers than its official rely of 4.

A minimum of 38 PLA troops drowned whereas crossing a fast-flowing, sub-zero river in darkness, in keeping with an article within the Australian newspaper ‘The Klaxon’ which cited a report ready by a gaggle of social media researchers after a year-long investigation.

Of the 4 troopers China has confirmed died, solely one– Junior Sergeant Wang Zhuoran– is reported as having drowned, the investigative newspaper stated. The report cited “a number of Weibo customers” and stated, “not less than 38 PLA troops together with Wang had been washed away and drowned that night time…of which solely Wang was declared among the many 4 formally useless troopers.”

The report cited a year-long investigation involving discussions with mainland Chinese language bloggers, data obtained from mainland-based Chinese language residents and media reviews which have since been deleted by Chinese language authorities.