India on Thursday announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing after a commander involved in 2020 border clashes between the two countries appeared as an Olympic torchbearer in the customary torch relay leading up to the Games.
The decision came after images showed People’s Liberation Army commander Qi Fabao honored as one of the Olympic torchbearers, as it moves across the Olympic competition zones in the lead-up to the lighting of the Olympic cauldron.
Qi has been hailed a hero in China for his role in the deadly 2020 India-China skirmish in Ladakh. The skirmish saw soldiers brutally attack each other with nail-studded rods and other crude weapons that left many dead on both sides.
The Opening Ceremony today marks the official start of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Each country sets the stage by displaying its culture with music and dancing at Beijings National Stadium, also known as the Birds Nest.
The last-minute boycott, which will see India’s top envoy in Beijing sit out Friday’s Opening Ceremony, puts India on the list of nations who already have diplomatically sat out from the Games, citing China’s human rights record and/or COVID-19 concerns.
‘It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicize an event like the Olympics,’ Arindam Bagchi, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said in a televised speech on Thursday, where he announced the top diplomat at the Indian Embassy in Beijing will not be attending the Opening or the Closing Ceremony.
Diplomatic boycotts do not exclude athletes from competing in the Games.
India has one athlete competing this year, alpine skier Arif Khan.