Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend next week’s Group of 20 summit, dealing a blow to South Africa, which is already facing a boycott by US President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reports.
China’s Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that Premier Li Keqiang will represent the country at the leaders’ summit, which begins in Johannesburg on November 22. The statement did not explain why Xi, who attended the event last year, will be absent this time.
Xi’s decision means that the summit, created to address geopolitical and economic issues and usually attended by heads of state, will not be attended by the leaders of the world’s two largest economies and another member country, Russia. Last week, Trump said that no American officials would attend the summit after he attacked South Africa with false claims of genocide against white Afrikaners. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip remains limited due to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court,” the statement said.
Other G-20 leaders, including Javier Milei of Argentina and Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, will also not travel to South Africa. However, several European leaders, as well as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, plan to be there.
Lin Jian, spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said at a regular briefing on Thursday that the meeting in Johannesburg “has important historical significance” as it is the first G20 summit on the African continent, and expressed support for South Africa as the host country.
Li, China’s second-highest-ranking official, has represented Xi at other major international events in recent years. He stood in for the president at the G20 summit in India in 2023 and at the BRICS leaders’ meeting in Brazil in July.
South African officials say in private comments that the absence of the US may make it easier to reach agreement on the declaration, which they believe will be an indicator of the success of the country’s G20 presidency before handing over to Washington in December.
