NEW DELHI: After Russian President Vladimir Putin officially said that he wouldn’t be able to make it for the G20 Summit in Delhi, speculation has been rife on whether Chinese President Xi Jinping would give it a miss too and send Premier Li Qiang instead.
If Xi doesn’t come, it would be the first G20 Summit he would skip since he came to power.
While no official confirmation has come from the Chinese side, official sources point out that it’s routine for some leaders not to make it to large events like G20.
“Absences are to be expected because it is not always possible for every leader to attend every summit,” said a source.
“These things do not reflect anything about the host country. The level of attendance at global summits varies from year to year. In today’s world, there are so many demands on the leaders’ time. From time to time, many leaders skip summits for their own reasons,” the source added.
The most glaring example was the 2021 G-20 Summit in Italy where there were no major geopolitical or health reasons for leaders to skip it. But circumstances happened in such a way that six countries attended below the Head of State (HOS)/Head of Government (HOG) level. As things stand, three heads of state among G-20 countries and one head of state among the nine invited countries are set to miss the Delhi G-20 Summit.
From 2008, there have been 16 physical summits of the G-20 and one virtual summit (Saudi Arabia, 2020). There were two summits each in 2009 and 2010. Out of these 16 physical summits, 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 HOS/HOG level.
Attendance at G-20 Summits
6 times there was one country below HOS/HOG
5 times there were two countries below HOS/HOG
1 time there were three countries below HOS/HOG
1 time there were six countries below HOS/HOG
1 time there was virtual summit: All attended
3 times: Full attendance at G-20 Summit
Participation of top leaders at G-20 Summit
Always participated (9): Canada, Germany, India, Italy, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, the US, the EU
Thrice below HOS/HOG: Mexico (President hasn’t attended since 2018)
Twice below HOS/HOG: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Russia
Once below HOS/HOG: China, France, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa
Nine times below HOS/HOG: Saudi Arabia