China on Monday indicated that leader Xi Jinping would skip an important gathering of the world’s 20 top economies for the first time with Premier Li Qiang traveling to the event in New Delhi this weekend in his place. Xi’s absence from the G20 summit comes as tensions simmer between China and host country India, especially over their disputed border and New Delhi’s growing ties with the United States. The no-show of China’s top leader – unprecedented since the first such summit was held in 2008 – will likely be seen as a snub to India, which is hosting the powerful group of world leaders for the first time amid efforts to boost its global clout under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Questions about Xi’s attendance at the meeting were first raised last week when Reuters reported the Chinese leader was likely to miss it, citing two unnamed Indian diplomats. At a regular news conference Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Li, China’s second-ranking leader, would attend the summit on Saturday and Sunday, without mentioning Xi. Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the ministry, sidestepped a question from a reporter about the reason for Xi’s non-attendance.
“The Group of 20 is a major forum for international economic cooperation, and China has always attached great importance to and actively participated in relevant activities,” Mao said, without addressing the substance of the question.
Even during the Covid pandemic, Xi attended the meetings in 2020 and 2021 by video link. Source: cnn.com/
Saturday, April 18, 2026
