The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez, on Friday applauded India's decision to boycott the Beijing Olympics, 2022.
Taking to Twitter Bob Menendez wrote "I applaud India for joining diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics. We stand with all countries that reject the CCP’s heinous human rights abuses & cold-blooded effort to turn Olympics 2022 into a political victory lap."
India announced a diplomatic boycott of the games just ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday terming China’s decision to field a People’s Liberation Army soldier involved in the June 2020 Galwan clashes as the torchbearer for the Winter Olympics Games in Beijing as “regrettable”.
The state broadcaster Doordarshan also announced it will not telecast the opening and closing ceremonies live of the event. India has one athlete, skier Arif Khan, participating in the Beijing Olympics this year.
The decision to boycott the games came after Chinese media reports identified Qi Fabao, a PLA regiment commander, as one of about 1,200 runners bearing the torch at a relay in Beijing.
Earlier, India had expressed support for the Beijing Olympics, even as more than a dozen countries including Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, led by the United States, had announced a boycott of the games.
“It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicise an event like Olympic,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, referring to the media reports.
“The Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of India in Beijing will not be attending the opening or closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics,” he added.
In 2020, a border standoff in eastern Ladakh erupted on May 5, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area between India and China. India had officially announced that 20 soldiers were killed in action in the clashes that were the deadliest since the 1962 war.
An investigative Australian newspaper also claimed on Wednesday, February 2 that China's losses in the Galwan Valley clash were much higher than reported.
Qi has been hailed a hero in China for his role fighting in the deadly 2022 India-China skirmish.
(With inputs from agencies)