The possible absence of the Chinese president in New Delhi comes a few weeks after the BRICS summit in South Africa, where Xi Jinping visited. The Chinese leader held discussions there with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a rare face-to-face meeting, but tensions remain high between the two countries.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend the G20 summit in India next weekend. This is what the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared yesterday, reports AFP citing a press release. The announcement from Chinese diplomacy thus seems to confirm the probable absence of President Xi Jinping at this meeting. “At the invitation of the Indian government, Prime Minister Li Qiang will participate in the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi, India, on September 9 and 10,” said a ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, in a statement.
Asked about this on Monday during a regular press briefing, Mao Ning did not confirm President Xi’s non-participation, simply announcing that Li Qiang would “lead a delegation” to India. “The G20 is an important forum for international economic cooperation,” she said.
“By participating in this meeting, Premier Li Qiang will convey China’s thoughts and positions on cooperation in the G20, calling on the G20 to strengthen unity and cooperation and work together to face global challenges of the economy and development”. “We are willing to work with all parties to jointly promote the success of the G20 summit and actively contribute to fostering stable global economic recovery and sustainable development,” Mao Ning also observed.
Last week, a European official speaking on condition of anonymity told reporters in Brussels that Chinese President Xi Jinping did not plan to attend the G20 summit. US President Joe Biden said he was “disappointed” by this absence.
In recent months, Beijing and Washington have renewed dialogue with a succession of visits by senior American officials to Beijing, including the head of diplomacy Antony Blinken. But bilateral relations remain tense, given the points of contention between the two powers, among other things, trade disputes, Chinese expansion in the South China Sea, and the question of the autonomous democratic island of Taiwan, the Uighur Muslim minority.
The G20 brings together the largest economies on the planet, i.e. 19 countries and the European Union (EU), which together represent 85% of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population. China, the world’s second-largest economy, is targeting growth of around 5% for 2023, but the objective will be difficult to achieve, in the context of low consumption, record youth unemployment, and the real estate crisis.
Tensions
President Xi has attended all G20 summits since coming to power, with the exception of Rome in 2021, in the midst of the COVID crisis, in which he participated via video conference. His probable absence in New Delhi comes a few weeks after the BRICS summit in South Africa, where Xi Jinping visited. The Chinese leader held discussions there with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a rare face-to-face meeting, but tensions remain high between the two countries.
This summit gave the green light to the upcoming accession of six new countries to the Brics (Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates). Beijing is in favor of such an expansion, considering the Brics as a counter-weight in the United States and Western domination. European officials hope the G20 summit will be an opportunity to try to get India and China to get tougher on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
Yesterday, New Delhi launched major military exercises, notably along the disputed Himalayan border with China. These exercises will continue during the G20. The 11 days of operations constitute “an annual training exercise” in the northern areas bordering Pakistan and China, said a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Relations between the two Asian powers have been strained since a high-altitude clash that killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers in June 2020. In late August, new tensions emerged after Beijing published a map claiming land that New Delhi claims to belong to it. Since then, tens of thousands of soldiers have been massed on both sides of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between India and China, but which is not clearly demarcated.
Modi’s government has pumped billions of dollars into connectivity projects on its side of the border to strengthen the civilian presence and establish new paramilitary battalions. India seeks to develop closer ties with Western countries, and in particular with the members of the Quad, an alliance that brings together the United States, Japan, and Australia and aims to counter the weight of China in the region. Asia Pacific.
