According to sources on Saturday, China officially informed India that President Xi Jinping would not attend the G20 summit in New Delhi and that the Chinese delegation will be led by Premier Li Qiang. A day earlier, Muktesh Pardeshi, the Special Secretary for the G20, stated that India was awaiting written confirmation from China regarding Xi Jinping's attendance at the summit.
The absence of Xi Jinping from a G20 Summit will be a first.
The G20 summit, which will take place in New Delhi on September 9 and 10, will be skipped by Xi Jinping, the second G20 leader. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a phone call from Russian President Vladimir Putin informing him that he would not be able to attend the meeting in person. Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, would speak on their behalf.
PM Modi and Xi Jinping last spoke in South Africa during the BRICS conference. According to Vinay Mohan Kwatra, the foreign secretary of India, PM Modi expressed to Xi Jinping India's concerns on the outstanding issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the western sector of the India-China border areas.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry reported that President Xi "stressed that improving China-India relations serves the common interests of the two countries and peoples" after the brief meeting.
The two leaders had only met twice since the fighting in Galwan in May 2020.
According to several observers, Xi Jinping's decision to forego the G20 Summit will be interpreted as a "signal" that China is reluctant to resolve the border problems with India.
Meanwhile, US Vice President Joe Biden had earlier stated that he "hopes" Xi Jinping will attend the G20 Summit. The day before the summit, on September 8, he will have a private meeting with PM Modi.
