Exclusive: China’s Xi likely to skip G20 summit in India

NEW DELHI/BEIJING, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip a G20 leaders’ summit in India next week, sources familiar with the matter in India and China told Reuters.

Two Indian officials, a China-based diplomat and an official working for the government of another G20 country said Premier Li Qiang is expected to represent Beijing at the Sept. 9-10 meeting in New Delhi.

Spokesmen for the Indian and Chinese foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment.

Li is also likely to attend a summit of East and Southeast Asian leaders in Jakarta, Indonesia, from September 5 to 7, according to a report. Kyodo report.

The summit in India had been seen as a place where Xi could meet US President Joe Biden, who has confirmed his attendance, as the two superpowers seek to stabilize relations soured by a series of trade and geopolitical tensions.

Xi last met Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already announced that not be traveling to New Delhi and will send Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his place.

A senior government official from the host India told Reuters that “we are aware that the prime minister is coming,” rather than Xi.

In China, two foreign diplomats and a government official from another G20 country said Xi would probably not travel for the summit.

Two of these three sources in China said they were informed by Chinese officials, but did not know the reason for Xi’s expected absence.

All of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The anticipation of a meeting between Xi and Biden has been fueled by a series of visits by top US officials to Beijing in recent months, including a trip by the Commerce Secretary. Gina Raymond earlier this week.

Another proposed upcoming summit for face-to-face talks between the two leaders is a meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders in San Francisco from November 12-18.

Xi, who won an unprecedented third term as leader last October, has made few trips abroad since China abruptly abandoned strict pandemic-induced border controls this year.

However, he attended a meeting of BRICS group leaders of the main emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – in South Africa last week.

Several G20 ministerial meetings in India ahead of the summit have been contentious, as Russia and China jointly opposed joint statements that included paragraphs condemning Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine last year.

Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a weird conversation on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg and discussed de-escalating the bilateral relationship that soured after clashes along their Himalayan border in 2020 left 24 soldiers dead.

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.