In a dispute over China’s choice to designate a commander of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as the event’s torchbearer, an Indian envoy in Beijing said he would not attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing-’22 Winter Olympics.
According to the Indian foreign ministry, the Chinese side has chosen the PLA commander who battled against Indian troops in Ladakh’s Galway Valley in 2020 to politicize the event like the Olympics.
“I wish to inform you 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,” said Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in the weekly media briefing held in virtual format.
“We have seen the reports on the issue…It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicize an event like the Olympics,” Bagchi said while responding to a media query.
According to media accounts, among the 1,200 torchbearers in the Games were Qi Fabio, a PLA unit commander who suffered a serious brain injury during the war.
The national broadcaster Doordarshan said shortly after the Indian foreign ministry briefing that the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics-2022, which begin tomorrow, will not be broadcast live.
