Chinese President Xi Jinping had no problem flying all the way to South Africa to attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg from Aug 22 to 24, but is not coming to what China considers its next door neighbour India for the G20 summit to be held in New Delhi over Sep 9-10. This is seen as reflecting a lack of willingness on Xi’s part to make any substantive improvement in relations with India by addressing New Delhi’s concerns even as their border issue across occupied Tibet continues to fester.

Xi’s decision to skip the G20 summit has been confirmed by official sources on Sep 2, reported the timesofindia.com Sep 3, adding it won’t affect the event in any way.

US President Joe Biden had expressed hope earlier this week that Xi would show up at the event, with a possibility of meeting with him on its sidelines.

China is now expected to be represented at the summit by its Premier Li Qiang.

Still, Indian authorities don’t believe that the absence of any leader from a summit like the G20 is a reflection on the host, the report said.