China’s foreign ministry has announced that Premier Li Qiang, not President Xi Jinping, will represent China at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. This comes just weeks after Xi attended the BRICS Summit in South Africa. Mint breaks down the significance of the announcement.
What happened?
The announcement by China’s foreign ministry on Monday ended weeks of speculation about whether Xi Jinping would attend the summit. “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,” read a release from foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. The Premier is widely considered to be the second most powerful person in politics after the President. Li is also considered a close confidant of Xi Jinping.
What’s the background to all this?
Xi’s decision to skip the G20 Summit comes just weeks after he attended the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. He met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi there and the two leaders agreed to direct officials to speed up disengagement on the disputed Sino-Indian border, which has been in crisis since 2020.
This makes Xi the second leader to pull out of the G20 Summit in New Delhi after Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will represent his country at the meeting.
Has China tried to play spoilsport before?
China and India have clashed repeatedly during the latter’s presidency of the G20 this year. India’s decision to hold G20 meetings in Kashmir met with Chinese resistance, as did the use of phrases such as ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ in G20 documents, according to some reports.
Xi’s decision to not attend has been seen by some analysts as a snub aimed at India, especially since the Chinese President did attend the BRICS Summit. Several G20 ministerial meetings in India ahead of the summit have been contentious as Russia and China have opposed joint statements that included paragraphs condemning Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine last year.
What does this mean for the bilateral relationship?
India and China seemed to be making progress on their border dispute in recent weeks. The recent round of Corps Commanders’ talks saw positive movement on disengagement in two regions, Depsang and Demchok. At their meeting in South Africa, Xi and Modi agreed to “intensify” disengagement efforts . However, Xi’s decision to skip the G20 Summit is being seen as a snub to India and may create more ill-will in an already complicated relationship.