Winter Olympics: Indian envoy to not attend opening or closing ceremony in China

The Indian charge d'affaires in Beijing will not attend the opening or closing ceremony of Winter Olympics to be held from February 4-20 in the Chinese capital, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

The decision comes in response to China making a commander of its People's Liberation Army, Qi Fabao, who was involved in the Galwan Valley clashes with the Indian Army in 2020, a torchbearer for the flame of the Olympics.

"It's indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has politicised an event like the Olympics. Our charge d'affaires will not be attending the opening or closing ceremony," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

Following this, Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said that DD Sports, the sports channel of public service broadcaster Doordarshan, will not telecast 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. https://t.co/sSP1EX9pSQ

— Shashi Shekhar Vempati शशि शेखर (@shashidigital) February 3, 2022

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.

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.

(With agency inputs)