China has honoured an army regiment commander who was injured in the Galwan Valley border clash with Indian soldiers in 2020 as an outstanding member of the national advisory body -- Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Qi Fabao was among the 33 individuals honoured with the 2024 Outstanding Performance Award for CPPCC Members at a ceremony held in Beijing on Sunday, the Global Times reported, quoting the CPPCC Daily.
In 2022, Qi was made the torchbearer for the Winter Olympics, which prompted Indian diplomats to boycott the opening and closing ceremonies of the event.
Earlier, Qi was 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, according to the report.
In January 2023, Qi was invited as a special guest and became a CPPCC member following the announcement of the list of members of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC, it said.
China had admitted the death of four of its soldiers eight months after the Galwan clash.
A total of 20 Indian soldiers died in the clash, regarded as the worst in over four decades at the India-China border. While India announced the casualties immediately after the incident, China revealed its casualties eight months later.
The relations between the two countries were frozen for over four years following the Galwan clash and the Eastern Ladakh standoff.
The ties were restored after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at Kazan in Russia last October on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.
It was followed by a series of meetings, including the meeting of the Special Representatives on the boundary question National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the Foreign Secretary-level talks.
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