India said on Thursday it will stay away from the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Beijing over China’s “regrettable” decision to field an army commander involved in the 2020 Galwan Valley clash as an Olympic torchbearer.
The Indian government had earlier expressed its unequivocal support for China to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Russia-India-China (RIC) grouping last November. This display of support was criticised in some quarters because of China’s intransigent stance on the standoff in Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
On Wednesday, Qi Fabao, a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regiment commander who was honoured after he suffered a head injury in the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, was chosen by authorities to carry the Winter Olympics torch in a relay in Beijing. Twenty Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops were killed in the brutal clash that saw soldiers fighting each other with rocks, batons and clubs wrapped in barbed wire.
As in the recent case of videos of PLA troops celebrating the New Year in Galwan Valley, Qi’s presence in the relay with 1,200 torchbearers was played up by China’s state media.
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When external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was asked about the matter at a weekly news briefing, he replied: “We have seen the reports on this issue. It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicise an event like the [Winter] Olympics.”
He added, “I wish to inform that our chargé d’affaires of the embassy of India in Beijing will not be attending the opening or the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.”
Soon after, Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, said in a tweet that state-run Doordarshan Sports channel “will not telecast live the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics being held in Beijing”.
The chargé d’affaires is currently the senior-most Indian diplomat in Beijing as the ambassador-designate Pradeep Kumar Rawat is yet to present his credentials and take charge. The Indian side had earlier decided to have a low key presence at ceremonies related to the Winter Olympics instead of opting for a diplomatic boycott like the one announced by the US.
The US said last month its diplomats wouldn’t attend the games over the repression of the Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang region, and Australia, the UK, Canada, Japan, Denmark and the Netherlands too have said they will not send officials or diplomats to the event.
Ironically, China fielded the PLA regiment commander for the torch relay in Beijing after accusing Western countries of “politicising” the Winter Olympics. People familiar with the matter said the Chinese side has shown scant regard for India’s sensitivities in such matters.
The standoff on the LAC, which began in May 2020, is yet to be resolved despite several rounds of diplomatic and military talks. Both sides have amassed some 50,000 troops each in Ladakh sector of the LAC.
Bagchi ducked a question on a report on an Australian website about the Chinese side suffering higher casualties during the Galwan Valley clash, and said: “This is a question that the relevant site should respond to.”
In response to another question, he said there was no update on the date for the next round of talks on the LAC standoff between Indian and Chinese military commanders. The senior commanders had met last month and both sides had agreed that resolving the remaining issues as soon as possible will help restore peace on the LAC and lead to progress in bilateral relations,” he said.
“There was also an agreement on holding the next meeting of the senior commanders as soon as possible,” he said.
Asked about reports that Miran Taron, a youngster from Arunachal Pradesh who was held for several days by the PLA, had been tortured in custody, Bagchi said: “Let me confirm that we have taken up the matter with the Chinese side.”
He added, “As regards the other details, this issue, you would recall, was handled through military channels and I would refer you to the ministry of defence.”
Bagchi was also asked about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that the “flawed” policies of the government since 2014 had brought China and Pakistan closer, and he replied that external affairs minister S Jaishankar had already responded on this matter.
Gandhi, while criticising the government on a range of issues in Parliament, had blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for following flawed domestic and foreign policies. “The Chinese have a very clear vision of what they want to do. The single biggest strategic goal of India’s foreign policy has been to keep Pakistan and China separate. What you have done is you have brought them together,” he said.
Jaishankar had tweeted that some “history lessons are in order” for Gandhi. He noted that Pakistan had illegally handed over Shaksgam valley to China in 1963, and that China built the Karakoram highway through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the 1970s.
He also noted that China and Pakistan have had close nuclear collaboration since the 1970s, and that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor started in 2013. “So, ask yourself: were China and Pakistan distant then,” he tweeted.
