Here are the reasons why India is boycotting Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Riya Krishna
Feb 7, 2022
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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 last-minute boycott, which will see India's top envoy in Beijing sit out Friday's Opening Ceremony, adds the world's most populous democracy to a list of Western nations who already have launched their own diplomatic no-shows, citing China's human rights record -- setting the tone for a controversial Olympic Games.
"It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicize an event like the Olympics," Arindam Bagchi, a spokesperson of 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.
Following the official move, India's public broadcaster Doordarshan also announced it will not telecast the opening and closing ceremonies live. The country has one athlete competing this year, alpine skier Arif Khan.
The decisions were sparked after images showed People's Liberation Army commander Qi Fabao honored as one of the some 1,200 people to bear the Olympic torch as it moves across the Olympic competition zones in the lead-up to the lighting of the Olympic cauldron Friday evening. Chinese basketball superstar and former NBA player Yao Ming and astronaut Jing Haipeng were among other honorees to carry the flame alongside Qi on the relay's opening day Wednesday.
New Delhi on Friday witnessed a protest against the Beijing Winter Olympics as hundreds of Tibetan exiles marched near the Chinese Embassy in the capital city, calling for the boycott of the Games while demanding freedom for their region.The Tibetan exiles held placards with messages, including, "No Rights, No Games" and "Say No To Genocide Games." and shouted slogans against the Winter Olympics, which is all set to be declared open on Friday, February 4.Some of the protesters, who tried to jump over barricades and run towards the Chinese embassy, were arrested by the police in New Delhi.Meanwhile, the protesters also burned the Chinese flag, according to news agency Associated Press.The protests by the Tibetan group in New Delhi also comes a day after India said it won't send its top diplomat in Beijing to the Winter Olympics after the honor of carrying the Olympic torch went to a Chinese soldier who was wounded in a deadly border clash between the countries two years ago.
A large number of Tibetans have been living in exile in India since spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959. China doesn't recognize the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in India and accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to separate Tibet from China.
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Riya Krishna
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