China announces that President Xi Jinping will not participate in the G20 summit

Sept. 4, 2023 (Anatolia) - China announced on Monday that President Xi Jinping does not intend to participate in the G20 summit scheduled in India on September 9 and 10, to be attended by Prime Minister Li Qiang.

"At the invitation of the government of the Republic of India, Premier Li Qiang will attend the 18th G20 summit to be held in New Delhi, India on September 9-10," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement.

India is hosting the meeting with the participation of many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden.Among the most prominent leaders absent from the summit along with the President of China, Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a statement issued by the office of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 28, to be deputized by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The Chinese official will attend the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia, which begins on Tuesday, where he is expected to travel Friday to New Delhi from Jakarta.The state-run Global Times newspaper quoted China's Foreign Ministry as saying that Beijing "looks forward to the summit reaching consensus on addressing challenges in the economy and development, transferring confidence to the outside world, and promoting prosperity and shared growth."

The G20 comprises 19 countries plus the European Union, which represent the world's largest economies and contribute more than 85 percent of global GDP and 75 percent of global trade.