Xi to skip G20 summit in India, China to send Li instead
investing.comBy Martin Quin Pollard, Laurie Chen and Liz Lee
BEIJING (Reuters) -Premier Li Qiang will lead China's delegation at a G20 summit in New Delhi this weekend, China's foreign ministry said on Monday, indicating President Xi Jinping would not attend and scuppering chances of a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden there.
The Sept. 9-10 summit had been seen as a venue for a possible meeting between Xi and Biden, who has confirmed his attendance in New Delhi, following months of efforts by the two powers to stabilise ties frayed by trade and geopolitical tensions.
«The G20 is the main forum for international economic cooperation and China has always placed great importance on and proactively taken part in such events,» Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press conference, when asked by a reporter why China's «leader» would not attend.
Mao declined to directly confirm that Li's attendance meant that Xi would not go, although she did not correct reporters who made that assertion. Reuters reported exclusively last month that Xi was likely to skip the meeting and send Li.
Li leading the delegation at the G20 meeting makes it all but certain that Xi will not be going since China would not have both its president and premier abroad at the same time, let alone at the same event.
Biden said on Sunday that he was disappointed Xi was not going to the summit but added that he was going to «get to see him». Biden did not elaborate.
Xi last met Biden on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Indonesia in November.
Germany, Europe's largest economy, also «regrets» Xi's decision not to attend, a spokesperson for its government said on Monday.
This will be the first time that a Chinese president has missed a leaders' summit since
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