After the United States refused to “endorse” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s irresponsible comment in parliament on India’s foreign policy, top US lawmakers on Thursday (February 3) applauded India for the diplomatic boycott of the winter Olympics in Beijing.
India for the first time used its power to diplomatically boycott a sports event after the Chinese Communist Party picked a PLA soldier, who was part of the military command that attacked Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley in 2020, as a torchbearer for the event.
I applaud India for joining the 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 the #Olympics2022 into a political victory lap. https://t.co/RR8MHHbcUN
— Senate Foreign Relations Committee (@SFRCdems) February 3, 2022
US senator Jim Risch said, a ranking member of the US senate’s foreign relations committee, described China’s decision to choose the PLA soldier as a torchbearer as “shameful” and said the US will always respect and will continue to support the sovereignty of India.
In a tweet sent out by senator Risch, he said, “It’s shameful that Beijing chose a torchbearer for the Olympics 2022 who’s part of the military command that attacked India in 2020 and is implementing genocide against the Uyghurs. The U.S. will cont. to support Uyghur freedoms & the sovereignty of India,”.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi during a press briefing described the Chinese action of honouring the commander as “regrettable”, and said that India’s chargé d’affaires in the Beijing embassy will not be attending the opening and closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Prasar Bharati, India’s public broadcaster has decided not to broadcast both ceremonies of the mega sporting event.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.