BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip summit of G20 leaders in India next week, sources familiar with matter in India and China told Reuters.

Two Indian officials, one diplomat based in China and one official working for government of another G20 country said Premier Li Qiang is expected to represent Beijing at September 9-10 meeting in New Delhi. Spokespersons for Indian and Chinese foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment. Li is also likely to attend summit of East and Southeast Asian leaders in Jakarta, Indonesia on September 5-7, according to report from Kyodo.

Summit in India had been viewed as venue at which Xi may meet with US President Joe Biden, who has confirmed his attendance, as two superpowers seek to stabilise relations soured by range of trade and geopolitical tensions. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already announced that he will not be travelling to New Delhi and will send Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov instead.

One senior government official from host India told Reuters that “We are aware that premier will come”, in place of Xi.

Two of these three sources in China said they were informed by Chinese officials, but they were not aware of reason for Xi’s expected absence. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to media. Anticipation of meeting between Xi and Biden has been fuelled by stream of top US officials visiting Beijing in recent months, including trip by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo earlier this week. Another upcoming summit mooted for face-to-face talks between two leaders is an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting in San Francisco on November 12-18.

Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held rare conversation on sidelines of BRICS meeting in Johannesburg and discussed reducing tensions in bilateral relationship that soured after clashes along their Himalayan frontier in 2020 left 24 soldiers dead.

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 01 2023

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