NEW DELHI: Chinese government has honoured a People’s Liberation Army regiment commander, Qi Fabao, as an outstanding member of the national advisory body. Fabao had sustained head injury while fighting in the Galwan clash with India in 2020.
According to Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference daily, Fabao was among the 33 individuals honoured with the 2024 Outstanding Performance Award for CPPCC Members at a ceremony held in Beijing on Sunday.
Earlier in 2022, Fabao was made a torchbearer at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Torch Relay, which prompted the Indian diplomats to boycott the opening and closing ceremonies of the event. Four Chinese soldiers who were killed in the 2020 border clash were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations.
Qi was also awarded by the Central Military Commission with the title of “Hero Regimental Commander for Defending the Border” and honoured with the July 1 Medal in 2021 by the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
Twenty Indian soldiers led by Colonel B Santosh Babu had laid down their lives while fighting the numerically-superior Chinese troops, armed with nail-studded rods and other sharp weapons, during the clash.
China, however, till now has not disclosed the actual number of its casualties, though it did later admit to losing a battalion commanding officer and four others.
According to a report in Global Times, Qi, the regimental commander from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Xinjiang military command.
India-China relations remained frozen for more than four years following the deadly Himalayan clash and the Eastern Ladakh standoff. However, ties were revived following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia, last October, during the BRICS summit.
This was followed by a series of diplomatic engagements, including talks between the special representatives on the boundary issue, NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign Minister Wang Yi, along with foreign secretary-level discussions.