NEW DELHI: While the country’s capital is gearing up to greet world leaders arriving to attend the G20 Summit from September 8-10, there seems to be an ambiguity regarding the attendance of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the summit.
There has been neither an official confirmation nor denial from the Chinese side on Xi’s visit. With this, speculation is rife that his Premier Li Qiang may fill in for Xi. Until now, Xi had attended all the G20 meetings that have happened during his tenure. Irrespective of the ambiguity, India is making preparations for his arrival, said sources.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Xi during the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg recently and talked about normalising the relationship. From the courtesies exchanged, it seemed that Xi is likely to attend the G20 Summit. However, in the past few days, India and China have been involved in a diplomatic rebuttal after China brought out a Standard Map that included Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh under its territories.
“China hasn’t officially said that President Xi Jinping isn’t coming to Delhi for the G20 Summit. However, if he does decide not to attend, it will send out a message that relations between India and China are still on a downward slide,” Ashok K Kantha, former ambassador to China, told this newspaper. Meanwhile, leaders including US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Saudi Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Salman are amongst the world leaders who have confirmed their in-person participation in the summit being conducted under India’s presidency.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had informed that he would not be able to make it for the G20 Summit as he was busy gearing up for a military operation. Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to India on his behalf. Putin had called up Prime Minister Modi and informed him about his inability to take part in the G20 Summit.