China has frequently denounced what it calls the politicization of the Olympics, including a diplomatic boycott that the United States has tried to organize. Yet China’s selection of one of the first of the 1,200 torch bearers has struck a nationalistic note: a colonel who fought Indian forces at the western end of the Himalayas.
Col. Qi Fabao, a regimental commander in China’s army, carried the torch on Wednesday, on the first day of its three-day tour in and near Beijing. He suffered a four-inch gash across the forehead during deadly border skirmishes with India in 2020.