‘Shameful’ to make use of Galwan soldier as Beijing Olympics torchbearer, says US lawmaker

Senator Jim Risch, a Republican who’s a Ranking Member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, referred to as the transfer “shameful” and mentioned that the US will proceed to help the sovereignty of India.

It’s 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 U.S. will cont. to help #Uyghur freedoms & the sovereignty of India.
— Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member (@SenateForeign) February 3, 2022
“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,” Risch wrote on Twitter.

Beijing on Wednesday kicked off a three-day Olympic torch relay with Qi Fabao, a regimental commander within the People’s Liberation Army who was critically wounded throughout a 2020 border conflict with Indian troops within the Galwan Valley, as one of many torchbearers, as per a report in China’s Global Times newspaper.
The conflict between Indian and Chinese troopers in Ladakh’s Galwan valley on June 15, 2020, was one of many deadliest such incidents, ensuing within the demise of 20 Indian troopers and at the very least 4 Chinese ones.

Qi took the torch from China’s four-time brief observe velocity skating gold medalist Wang Meng, mentioned the report.
The Beijing Olympics is being held in between Covid-19 outbreaks in China and is scheduled to start out on February 4. The Olympic flame was flown in from Greece and can journey to varied components of the nation earlier than lighting the Olympic cauldron as part of the opening ceremony.