Chinese President Xi Jinping is giving a miss to G20 Summit in New Delhi. But if experts are to be believed, it might have more to do with Xi’s economic and political problems at home than China’s friction with India.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was born in the lap of luxury but, as his father was purged during China’s Cultural Revolution, a young Xi had to toil in the farms as a manual labourer in the countryside for 6 years. Those struggles would be nothing compared to the task the all-supreme leader now faces.
Xi is skipping the G20 Summit in New Delhi and experts have failed to pin-point the one big reason why China is sending Premier Li Qiang instead.
It is true that China’s relationship with India has been mostly frosty since the border clashes in May 2020. And it is also possible that the Chinese government decided to send Premier Li Qiang instead of President Xi to send out a signal. But the Chinese government has maintained that it was ready to work with all the parties for the global event’s success in New Delhi this week.
Also, Xi might not want to share the stage with the “tough crowd” at the G20. Many G20 member countries have “hardened their positions on China” in the last decade, said Paul Haenle, director of think-tank Carnegie China, adding, “It’s a tough crowd for Xi”.
What experts are also hinting at is that Xi Jinping’s skipping the India-hosted G20 event could be due to the mounting troubles in China itself. So, is Xi staying back home where the real trouble is?
Given Xi’s focus on domestic issues, he might be unwilling to travel abroad, Alfred Wu, said associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
“Xi Jinping is setting his own agenda where his top concern is national security and he has to stay in China and make foreign leaders visit him instead,” Wu told Reuters.
Wu says the over-emphasis on security is hurting China’s diplomatic ties and the attempt to rejuvenate its economy. China’s economy is in bad shape, and it is among Xi’s biggest headaches.