Indian diplomats boycott Beijing Winter Olympics

Terming China’s decision to field a People’s Liberation Army soldier involved in the June 2020 Galwan clashes as the torchbearer for the Winter Olympics Games in Beijing as “regrettable”, India announced a diplomatic boycott of the games just ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday last. State broadcaster Doordarshan also announced it will not telecast the opening and closing ceremonies live, where India has one athlete, skier Arif Khan, participating.
The decision came after Chinese media reports identified Qi Fabao, a PLA regiment commander who received military honours for the Galwan clashes, where he was injured, as one of about 1,200 runners bearing the torch at a relay in Beijing. China’s decision to field him and New Delhi’s announcement of its first ever political boycott of Olympic games, are likely to increase India-China tensions that have risen since PLA aggressions along the Line of Actual Control began in April 2020.
India had earlier expressed support for the Beijing Olympics, even as more than a dozen countries, led by the United States, had announced a boycott of the games. “It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicise an event like Olympic,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, referring to the media reports. “The Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of India in Beijing will not be attending the opening or closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics,” he added.
The Indian Ambassador to China, Pradeep Kumar Rawat, whose appointment was announced in December, is expected to take charge in the next few weeks, and hence the Charge d’Affaires Acquino Vimal is the top diplomat in Beijing at present. Vimal and other officials had been expected to attend the ceremonial functions at the games, although the MEA had said no political or high level representation would be sent from Delhi. The Chinese decision to publicly honour the military commander for involvement in the deadly clashes in the Galwan valley, where 20 Indian soldiers, and at least four Chinese soldiers (far higher according to media reports) were killed, is seen as a deliberate insult to New Delhi, which came despite the fact that the Modi government had decided not to join western boycott calls over human rights concerns.