The external affairs ministry on Thursday said the charge d’affaires at the Indian embassy in Beijing would not attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics beginning on Friday, expressing disappointment at China selecting a regiment commander who had participated in the Galwan Valley clash as a torchbearer for the Games flame.

Asked about Chinese media reports that Qi Fabao, a regiment commander who had suffered injuries in the Galwan clash in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in June 2020, had been selected to be a torchbearer for the Olympics flame, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “Yes, we have seen the reports on this issue. It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicise an event like the Olympics.”

Bagchi added: “The charge 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.”

Currently, the mission is headed by the charge d’affaires as the ambassador-designate is yet to take charge.

Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati announced that Doordarshan’s sports channel would not do a live telecast, either.

According to the Global Times, a Chinese communist party tabloid, Qi is a regimental commander with the People’s Liberation Army’s Xinjiang military command. His inclusion as a torchbearer has drawn criticism in the US too, not just because of the Galwan connection but also because of the Uyghur genocide in Qi’s command area.

In a tweet, Jim Risch, a US Senate Foreign Relations Ranking Member, said: “It’s shameful that #Beijing chose a torchbearer for the #Olympics2022 who’s part of the military command that attacked #India in 2020 and is implementing #genocide against the #Uyghurs. The US will cont. to support #Uyghur freedoms & the sovereignty of India.”

Several countries had earlier announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics in protest against China’s human rights violations while backing their teams’ participation in the Games. The US was the first to announce that it would not send an official delegation to the Olympics. Australia and Japan — both Quad members apart from India and the US — followed suit. The UK, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark will not be attending the ceremonies, either.

India has only one athlete participating in the Winter Olympics — Gulmarg-based skier Arif Khan.

Asked about reports of the Chinese torturing an Arunachal Pradesh youth who had strayed across the border, Bagchi did not comment on the circumstances of the case but said the matter was being taken up with China. The youth, Miran Taron, was handed over to the Indian army last week.