After Putin, Xi likely to pull out of G20 summit in India: Report

Days after releasing a controversial map that antagonised the entire neighbourhood, Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip the G20 summitscheduled to take place in the Indian capital city of New Delhi next month, a Reuters report has claimed.

The report quoted sources familiar with the matter in India and China who stated thatPremier Li Qiang is expected to represent Beijing at the September 9-10 meeting.

Xi pulling out of the summit comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was not travelling to India to attend the meet in person. He called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conveyed that Foreign MinisterSergei Lavrov will represent Russian interests on the global platform.

It was anticipated that Xi might meet with US President Joe Biden, who has confirmed his attendance at the summit. Some reports claimed that Xi might square up against PM Modi yet again, after holding a rare conversation on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, earlier this month.

During the meeting, the two leaders discussedreducing tensions in the bilateral relationship that soured after clashes along their Himalayan frontier in 2020 left 24 soldiers dead.

Divided G20 or not?

Xi planning to skip the summit is likely to steer the summit in a productive direction. Earlier, geopolitical hawks stated that Beijing releasing the distorted map where India's Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin as well as Taiwan and major portions of the South China Sea were shown as Chinese territories, could have divided the G20 summit.

Since the release of the controversial map, India, Malaysia and the Philippines have come out with strong objections, calling out China for its hyper-expansionist tendencies.

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishnkar in a statement said:"It's an old habit of theirs. These (territories) are very much part of India. This government is very clear what our territories are. Making absurd claims doesn't make others' territories yours."

Meanwhile, the Filipino Department of Foreign Affairs said the 2023 edition map is China's latest attempt "to legitimise purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones" and "has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)."

(With inputs from agencies)

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