India’s Chargé d’ Affaires (Cd’A) Acquino Vimal in Beijing will not attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in that country. The new envoy of India Pradeep Rawat has yet to present his credentials to the Chinese government. The official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, of the Ministry of External Affairs responding to media queries said “the Indian Cd’A in Beijing will not attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.”

When are the Winter Olympics starting?

On Friday. And several countries, especially from the West have decided to diplomatically boycott the games.

From India there will be only one athlete present at the games.

Why has India taken this decision?

The Chinese government on Wednesday shared the image of one of its Regiment Commander of the People’s Liberation Army, as a torchbearer during the Olympic relay. This person was involved in the Galwan Valley clash in which the Indian army had lost several soldiers.

Mr Bagchi termed this move by the Chinese side as “regrettable’’ for politicising an event like the Olympics.

The Global Times, an English media outlet of China and is known to be with the Chinese Communist Party, had tweeted the images of Qi Fabao.

More about the clash in 2020

It has been almost 20 months since the armies of both countries are in a standoff position.

In June 2020, in a violent clash at Galwan valley, between the armies of both sides, India had lost 20 personnel. It was for the first time in four decades that there were deaths on the Line of Actual Control in which lives were lost.

And, despite several rounds of high level talks, the two sides are locked in a standoff. And the relations between India and China have not thawed.

Which leaders are attending?

Leaders of all the five Central Asian countries, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan are among those expected to attend the opening ceremony.

Genocide Games

Several activists are terming these games as “genocide games”. Because of Chinese human rights abuses in western province of Xinjiang.