India announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics Games in Beijing on Friday, calling China's plan to use a People's Liberation Army soldier involved in the June 2020 Galwan skirmishes as the torchbearer for the games "regrettable." Doordarshan, India's state broadcaster, has also announced that the opening and closing ceremonies, in which only one Indian athlete, skier Arif Khan, will compete, will not be televised live.
After Chinese media sources identified Qi Fabao, a PLA regiment commander who won military honors for his role in the Galwan skirmishes, where he was injured, as one of roughly 1,200 runners carrying the torch at a relay in Beijing, the decision was made.
China's decision to field him, combined with New Delhi's announcement of the country's first-ever political boycott of Olympic events, is certain to exacerbate India-China tensions, which have been rising since PLA aggressions along the Line of Actual Control began in April 2020.
India has previously voiced support for the Beijing Olympics, despite the fact that more than a dozen countries, led by the US, had announced a boycott.
He further added, “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,”
The Indian Ambassador to China, Pradeep Kumar Rawat, was appointed in December and is due to enter office in the next weeks, therefore the Charge d'Affaires Acquino Vimal is currently the highest diplomat in Beijing. Although the MEA had stated that no political or high-level representation would be sent from Delhi, Mr. Vimal and other officials were expected to attend the games' ceremonial functions.
Shashi Shekhar Vempati, the CEO of Prasar Bharti, also tweeted that "as a result of the MEA's declaration," Doordarshan's sports channel would not air the Olympic ceremonies as planned.
The Chinese decision to publicly honor the military commander for his role in the deadly clashes in the Galwan valley, in which 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers (far more, according to media reports) were killed, is seen as a deliberate insult to New Delhi, especially since the Modi government had decided not to join western boycott calls over human rights concerns.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar conducted a virtual Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting in November 2021, at which they "reaffirmed their support to China to host the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games," according to a joint statement.
Other countries, including the United States, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, and a number of European countries, including Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, have announced plans for a diplomatic boycott, sending athletes and sports officials but no diplomats or politicians to protest China's restrictions on its Uighur population in Xinjiang and other human rights violations.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are expected to attend the opening ceremony.
Mr. Putin is also due to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement ahead of Mr. Khan's arrival that Mr. Khan will meet with Mr. Xi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and sign a number of bilateral agreements.
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