There is a speculation that Chinese President Xi Jinping may not take part in the G-20 summit in New Delhi and India has not yet received any confirmation about his schedule for the high-profile event from September 9-10, sources said here on Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already announced that he will not attend the summit.
US President Joe Biden may reschedule his visit to G-20 due to Hurricane Idalia in Florida early Wednesday. He said he may have to adjust his personal and work travel schedule as a result of the hurricane.
Biden, speaking at the White House, said he had spoken with the governors of all potentially affected states and reassured them that the federal government would provide any assistance needed.
Asked if he was making contingency plans for his personal travel schedule for the Labour Day weekend or his scheduled participation in the Group of 20 leaders summit in India, Biden said “Well I may, I just don’t know yet,” Reuters said.
Reports about the likelihood of the Chinese President not travelling to New Delhi and instead Premier Li Qiang expected to represent Beijing at the summit, come even as a majority of G20 leaders, including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Japanese premier Fumio Kishida and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have already confirmed their participation at the summit.
There was no official word on the issue of President Jinping from the Indian side.
Putin has already conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that it will not be possible for him to travel to India to participate in the summit. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent his country at the meet.
Sources said China has not yet confirmed Xi’s in-person participation at the summit. Asked about a Reuters report that said Xi is likely to skip the upcoming G20 summit in India, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a media briefing in Beijing that he has nothing to offer on it. “Of the Chinese leaders attending the G20 summit, I have nothing to offer at the moment,” Wang said.
The ties between India and China have been under severe strain since the deadly clashes in Galwan Valley in June 2020. The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.
India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquility along the LAC were key for normalisation of overall ties. On its part, China has been arguing that the boundary question does not represent the “entirety” of the bilateral relations, insisting that the two sides should move forward on overall relations.
Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping held an informal conversation on August 23 on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in Johannesburg.
Following the conversation, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said Modi conveyed to Xi India’s concerns on the “unresolved” issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, underlining that maintenance of peace and tranquility in border areas was essential for normalisation of India-China ties.
Kwatra said the two leaders also agreed to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at “expeditious disengagement and de-escalation”.
However, the Chinese readout did not have any mention of this.
On Monday China released a so-called “standard map” laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin drawing a strong protest from India. The “map” also showed the entire South China Sea and Taiwan as part of China as it featured in the previous editions of the ‘map’.
