Indian Diplomats to Boycott Beijing Winter Olympics After China Picked Galwan Solider as Torch-bearer

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday announced that India will not attend the opening or closing ceremony of the 17-day-long 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday announced that India will not attend the opening or closing ceremony of the 17-day-long 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. This comes after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regiment commander involved in the June 15, 2020 clash with India in Galwan Valley was chosen by China to carry the Winter Olympic torch in Beijing. Addressing a press conference, MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “Regrettable that China has chosen to politicize the Olympics.”

“India’s chargé d’affaires in the Beijing embassy will not be attending the opening or closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics,” Bagchi added. The eastern Ladakh border row escalated after the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15, 2020. Twenty Indian Army personnel laid down their lives in the clashes that marked the most serious military conflicts between the two sides in decades.

Minutes after MEA’s announcement, Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO Prasar Bharati, also took Twitter and infomed that DD Sports channel will not telecast live the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. “Consequent to the announcement by @meaindia, @ddsportschannel will not telecast live the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics being held in Beijing,” he wrote. 

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

In February last year, China officially acknowledged that five Chinese military officers and soldiers were killed in the clashes with the Indian Army though it is widely believed that the death toll was higher.