Almost certain: President Xi to skip G20 meet, Premier Li to represent China

It is almost certain now: Chinese President Xi Jinping will skip the G20 Summit in India next week and Premier Li Qiang will represent China at the conclave, people in the know have said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi his decision not to attend the Summit in-person, as he has to focus on the “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The Russian President had skipped the G20 Bali summit in November last year as well.

Reason unknown

Many leaders have in the past skipped G20 summits for various reasons and it does not reflect anything about the host country, said the sources.

When the news first broke that President Xi may skip the meeting, there were speculations that it might be a fallout of the map issue.

The decision came shortly after China released a “standard map” showing parts of eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh as parts of its territory. India has openly rejected the map.

In its capacity as the current president of G20, India is hosting the annual summit of the influential grouping in New Delhi on September 9-10.

There is no official word from either China or India on who will represent Beijing at the upcoming G20 summit.

Xi to skip other meets

“The Chinese President is not travelling to India for the G20 Summit,” said one of the people cited above, adding that Premier Li is likely to represent China at the summit.

President Xi will also skip the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and East Asia summits in Jakarta next week.

Li is likely to travel to India after attending the East Asia summit in Jakarta. In 2021, Chinese President Xi did not travel to Italy to participate in the G20 summit due to China’s COVIND-19 restrictions.

Since 2008, there have been 16 physical summits of the G20, and one virtual summit (Saudi Arabia, 2020). There were two summits each in 2009 and 2010.

Of these 16 physical summits, except the first three 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.

Attendance level varies

“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,” said one of the sources.

The people cited above said there have been six occasions — 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017 — in G-20 summits when the representation was below HOS/HOG-level from any one member country.

There have been five occasions when the representation was below HOS/HOG-level by two countries, they said.

The G20 member countries represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

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).