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China indicated on Monday that President Xi Jinping would skip a key meeting of the world’s 20 largest economies for the first time, with Prime Minister Li Qiang set to travel to New Delhi for the event in his place this weekend.
Xi’s absence from the G20 summit comes as tensions between China and host country India simmer, particularly over the disputed border and New Delhi’s growing ties with the United States.
The no-show by China’s top leader – an unprecedented event since the first such summit in 2008 – is likely to be seen as a snub to India, which is hosting the world’s powerful group of leaders for the first time as it seeks to consolidate its global Strengthening influence under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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Questions about Xi’s attendance at the meeting were first raised last week when Portal reported, citing two unnamed Indian diplomats, that the Chinese leader was likely to miss the meeting.
At a regular news conference on Monday, China’s foreign ministry said Li, China’s second-ranking leader, would attend the summit on Saturday and Sunday without mentioning Xi.
Mao Ning, a ministry spokesman, dodged a reporter’s question about the reason for Xi’s no-show.
“The Group of 20 is an important forum for international economic cooperation, and China has always attached great importance to and actively participated in related activities,” Mao said, without elaborating on the substance of the issue.
Even during the Covid pandemic, Xi attended the 2020 and 2021 meetings via video link.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faces an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will also miss the summit. Instead, Russia will be represented by its foreign minister.
Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Xi’s absence from the G20 summit will be “very noticeable” but given Beijing’s opacity, one can only speculate about the reasons for the decision.
“It could be a deliberate snub to India, or it could be that Xi is preoccupied with domestic issues. “It could also be that Xi does not feel that the time is right to meet with certain leaders such as President Biden or Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
“But perceptions are important. Regardless of whether it is intended as a snub to India, some will see it as such.”
Beijing’s announcement dashed hopes of Xi and US President Joe Biden meeting at the summit as the two superpowers seek to stabilize their rocky ties.
Preempting confirmation from Beijing, Biden publicly expressed disappointment on Sunday that he would not see Xi in New Delhi.
“I’m disappointed — but I’ll see him,” Biden told reporters on Sunday.
Biden previously told CNN that he would meet with Xi “in the fall.”
The last face-to-face conversation between the two leaders took place in November 2022 on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, where they promised to restore communication channels to prevent rising tensions from escalating into open conflict. This meeting is the only time the two have met in person since Biden took office.
Hear what Biden and Xi said to each other in their first meeting as heads of state
Four U.S. Cabinet officials have visited Beijing in recent months after a suspected Chinese spy balloon derailed a fledgling attempt at rapprochement earlier this year.
Xi’s absence from the G20 summit also means he will not hold a formal bilateral meeting with Modi as the two nuclear neighbors remain at loggerheads over their disputed border.
Xi and Modi agreed on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa last month to “intensify efforts” to defuse border tensions – in what was seen as a step toward improving their strained relationship.
But tensions rose again last week when India lodged a “strong protest” against China’s newly released national map, which purported to include the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin Plateau in Chinese territory.
The disputed border has long been a source of tension between New Delhi and Beijing. The unrest led to war in 1962, which ended in a victory for China.
Tensions rose again in 2020 after a deadly brawl in the Galwan Valley left 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese dead.