Indian diplomats in Beijing will not attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics following reports of China making a PLA soldier involved in the 2020 Galwan clashes one of the torchbearers for the quadrangular Games.
The Games are scheduled to take place from 4 February 4 to 20 February 2022. India is only sending one athlete: skier Arif Khan.
“Yes, we have seen reports on this issue. It’s indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen events like Olympics to politicise the Galwan valley issue. Our diplomats in Beijing will not attend the opening and closing ceremonies of Beijing Winter Olympics,” said Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs.
Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO of Prasar Bharati, has also announced that the DD Sports channel will not telecast live these ceremonies.
Consequent to the announcement by @meaindia, @ddsportschannel will not telecast live the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics being held in Beijing. https://t.co/sSP1EX9pSQ
— Shashi Shekhar Vempati शशि शेखर (@shashidigital) February 3, 2022
The soldier in question, who has been identified as Qi Fabao, is reportedly a regimental commander of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Fabao was grievously injured during the bloody clash between the PLA and Indian troopers in the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh in June 2020.
Twenty Indian soldiers, including the commanding officer of an infantry battalion, lost their lives in the Galwan clashes.
Several other countries including the US and the UK had said that they would boycott the Games diplomatically as a mark of protest against the human rights abuses carried out by the ruling Communist Party regime in China.
IANS
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