Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to forgo attendance at the forthcoming G20 summit in India, a development gleaned from sources acquainted with the intricacies prevailing in both India and China. As per the report by Reuters, two Indian officials, one of them stationed in China as a diplomat and the other representing a different G20 nation, have intimated that Premier Li Qiang is slated to partake in the New Delhi rendezvous on September 9-10, serving as a surrogate for Beijing.
The envisaged G20 summit on Indian soil had been construed as a potential avenue for a tête-à-tête between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart, President Joe Biden, who has already confirmed his attendance. This juncture assumed significance as both these formidable global powers sought to ameliorate their relations, which had been strained by multifarious trade and geopolitical altercations.
The latest interaction between Xi and Biden occurred during the G20 gathering in Bali, Indonesia, last November. Notably, Russian President Vladimir Putin has opted not to attend the New Delhi summit in person, designating Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to deputize in his stead. A senior official from the host nation India conveyed, “we are aware that the premier will come,” referencing Xi’s expected nonattendance.
Albeit, it is discerned from information furnished by foreign diplomats stationed in China, as well as a government representative from another G20 nation, that Xi Jinping’s presence at the summit is dubious. These sources, some of whom purportedly received insights from Chinese officials, cited a dearth of concrete knowledge concerning the specific rationale underpinning Xi’s possible abstention.
The anticipation of a plausible rendezvous between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden has been accentuated by a sequence of visits to Beijing by high-profile U.S. functionaries over recent months. Worth mentioning is Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s recent sojourn, which has compounded such prospects.
Moreover, an alternate summit has been proposed as a potential locus for face-to-face deliberations between the two leaders—the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting, scheduled for San Francisco from November 12 to 18.
Xi Jinping, who clinched an unprecedented third term as leader in October of the preceding year, has exhibited curtailed international voyages since China relaxed its stringent pandemic-related border restrictions earlier this year. Nevertheless, he did participate in a congregation of BRICS leaders—comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—in South Africa just the previous week.
In the lead-up to the G20 summit, ministerial assemblies in India have been punctuated by discord. Most notably, Russia and China have jointly resisted endorsing collective statements denouncing Moscow’s foray into Ukraine during the preceding year.
In the backdrop of this milieu, Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi engaged in a parley on the fringes of the BRICS gathering in Johannesburg. Their discussions centered on strategies to mitigate tensions in their bilateral relationship, which had frayed following border skirmishes in the Himalayas in 2020, resulting in fatalities.
(Contributions from Reuters)
