Premier Li Qiang will represent China at the 18th G20 summit in India on 9-10 September, Beijing said today, officially confirming that Chinese President Xi Jinping will not be travelling to New Delhi for the high-profile meet.
”At the invitation of the government of the Republic of India, Premier of the State Council Li Qiang will attend the 18th G20 Summit to be held in New Delhi, India on September 9 and 10,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a statement.
However, no reason was given in the statement about Xi’s absence from the summit.
It is understood that Chinese officials had informed their Indian counterparts on 2 September that President Xi would be skipping the New Delhi summit. Along with President Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin will also not attend the summit in India. Putin will be represented by his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit last month during which he highlighted India’s concerns over the unresolved issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in Ladakh. However, there was intense debate over who took the initiative for the meeting. India said there was a long-standing request from China for the meeting while the Chinese side said New Delhi sought the meeting.
The Chinese President has made few overseas trips since China abruptly dropped its Covid restrictions. Several G20 ministerial meetings in India ahead of the summit have been contentious as Russia and China together opposed joint statements which included paragraphs condemning Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine last year.