NEW DELHI: India on Thursday announced that its chargé d’affaires in the Beijing embassy would not attend the opening or closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics after China made a People’s Liberation Army’s regimental commander, who had suffered severe injuries during the Galwan clash, a torchbearer of the event.
“I wish to inform that our Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of India in Beijing will not be attending the opening or the closing ceremony of the Beijing ’22 Winter Olympics,” a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson stated on Thursday.
Following the announcement by the MEA, Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO of state broadcaster Prasar Bharati, declared that DD Sports will not telecast the opening and closing ceremony of the Winter Games.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi described the Chinese action of honouring the commander as ‘regrettable’.
“We have seen the reports on this issue. It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicise an event like the Olympics,” the foreign ministry said.
Earlier, the Chinese government’s English language mouthpiece Global Times reported that Qi Fabio, a Chinese army officer who was injured in the Galwan Valley clashes with India, was a torchbearer in the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.
Beijing’s latest move comes amid reports of China hiding its losses in the Galwan Valley clash with India in June 2020. New research indicates that the PLA lost more soldiers than its official count of four.
