“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.
Indian Ambassador to China, Pradeep Kumar Rawat, whose appointment was announced in December, is yet to take charge.
Charge d’Affaires Acquino Vimal is the top Indian 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.
Prasar Bharti chief Shashi Shekhar Vempati also tweeted that “consequent to the announcement by the MEA”, Doordarshan’s sports channel would not telecast the Olympic ceremonies, as planned earlier.
Interestingly, New Delhi had earlier expressed support for the Beijing Olympics, even as more than a dozen countries including the United States had announced a boycott of the games.
The Indian decision to boycott the Winter Olympics diplomatically came
after it was reported that Qi Fabao, a Chinese regiment commander who received military honours for the Galwan clashes with Indian forces in 2020, would be among the 1200 runners bearing the torch at a relay in Beijing.
The US, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom and a number of other countries including Denmark, the
Netherlands, Sweden and the Czech Republic have announced their plans for diplomatic boycott.
It would mean sending athletes and sports officials but no diplomatic or political presence.
In November 2021, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar had hosted a virtual Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting and later a joint statement stated that RIC “expressed support to China to host the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
A report in an Australian investigative newspaper has claimed that China is hiding its losses in the Galwan Valley clash with India.
The new revelation claims the PLA lost at least nine times more soldiers than its official count of four.
At least 38 PLA troops reportedly drowned while crossing a fast-flowing, sub-zero river in darkness.
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US to back India, other partners against China policy of 'intimidating neighbors'
New Delhi
The United States has on Friday expressed concerns on China's attempts to
intimidate its neighbors and said Washington will stand by its partners and allies to advance "shared prosperity and security".
"We have previously voiced our concerns on Beijing’s pattern of ongoing attempts to intimidate its neighbors. We stand with friends, we stand with partners and allies, to advance our shared prosperity, security, and values in the Indo-Pacific," US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
On being asked if ongoing tensions between the US and Russia over Ukraine have impacted US-India ties, he said, "No. We have a relationship with India that stands on its own, that stands on its own merits".
On China making a PLA soldier involved in the Galwan clash as Beijing Winter Olympics torchbearer,
Price said, "When it comes to the broader issue of India-China border situation, we continue to support
direct dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the border disputes".
Meanwhile two key American senators slammed China for its decision to field Qi Fabao,
the regimental commander of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), who was injured during the
June 2020 border clash with Indian army in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, as the torchbearer
for the Games Torch Relay.
“Another outrageous example of the CCP’s flagrant politicization of Beijing2022. Their decision to
choose a soldier who participated in a 2020 ambush against Indian troops as torchbearer is appalling and
deliberately provocative,” Florida Senator Marco Rubio said.
In a tweet, Senator Jim Risch, said, ”It’s shameful that Beijing chose a torchbearer for the Olympics 2022
who was part of the military command that attacked India in 2020 and is implementing genocide against the Uyghurs".
"The US will continue to support Uyghur freedoms and the sovereignty of India,” Risch wrote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi alleged that it is an attempt of the Chinese government and Chinese
Communist Party to use the glamour of the Olympics to showcase a façade that distracts global
attention from egregious human rights abuses in China.
“These efforts generate many questions that the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) explored throughout 2021 regarding the policies of the International Olympic Committee, the nexus between major sporting events and human rights".
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