Chinese leader Xi Jinping unexpectedly skipped the BRICS summit business forum and sent his minister there to give a speech on his behalf.
Xi, who arrived in Johannesburg for the annual BRICS summit, was scheduled to address a business forum on Tuesday alongside the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa. However, the President of the People’s Republic of China did not attend the event, without an official statement or explanation from Beijing.
A speech prepared on Xi’s behalf was delivered by China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. It contained a plea to avoid “sleepwalking into the abyss of a new Cold War” and numerous accusations against the United States, albeit without direct reference. It was specifically about America’s “obsession with preserving hegemony.”
Xi is the only BRICS leader not present at the forum. Even Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was unable to attend the summit in person due to an international arrest warrant issued in connection with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, kept his comments at bay.
After leaving the event, the President of the People’s Republic of China later attended a dinner hosted by South African President Ciril Ramaphosa, along with the leaders of Brazil and India and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
BRICS summit. Questions about Xi Jinping’s absence
Xi’s surprising absence from the panel was noted by the journalists present and raised questions among longtime observers of Chinese politics.
Brian Hart of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies told CNN that Xi’s absence was “very unusual,” adding that Chinese leaders rarely strayed from script during high-profile events like this.
“The fact that Xi stopped the speech but appeared at all other meetings before and after this event suggests that something serious must have been going on. But at the moment we don’t know the cause,” Hart said.
Chinese state media and diplomats offered no explanation for Xi’s absence and tried to cover it up. The telegram from the state news agency Xinhua made no mention of Xi’s disappearance, nor that his speech was delivered by the commerce minister.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
