Moon Desk: It is almost certain that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will represent China at the G20 Summit in India next week, instead of President Xi Jinping who is going to skip the conclave, said people familiar with the development on Saturday.
“The Chinese President is not traveling to India for the G20 Summit. Premier Li is likely to represent China at the Summit,” said one of the people cited above on the condition of anonymity.
However, Jinping’s absence does not reflect anything about the host country as many leaders in the past skipped the G20 Summits for various reasons.
“There are some media reports that some heads of state may skip the G20 Summit in India. These things do not reflect anything about the host country,” he added.
In addition, President Xi is also skipping the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and East Asia summits in Jakarta next week.
The G20 Summit in Delhi will be held over two days, on September 9 and 10. The two-day summit will draw leaders and delegates from 40 countries, including the 20 member states.
Apart from Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin has already conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi his decision to not attend the summit in person as he has to focus on the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
After attending the East Asia summit in Jakarta, the Chinese Premier is likely to travel to India. In 2021, Chinese President Xi did not travel to Italy to participate in the G20 summit due to China’s COVID-19 restrictions, as per PTI reports.
However, it is pertinent to note that there is no official word either from China or from India on who will represent Beijing at the upcoming G20 summit.
From 2008, there were 16 physical summits of the G20, and one virtual summit (Saudi Arabia, 2020). There were two summits each in 2009 and 2010. Out of these, except the first three summits in 2008 and 2009, there has never been a single occasion from 2010 till now when every country has attended at the Heads of State (HOS) or Heads of Government (HOG) level, the people cited above said.
“The level of attendance at global summits varies from year to year. In today’s world with so many demands on the leaders’ time, it is not always possible for every leader to attend every summit,” one of the sources was saying quoted by PTI.
The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union (EU).
