Chinese President Xi Jinping will reportedly not attend the BRICS summit to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from the 6th to the 7th of next month. Instead, Chinese Premier Li Qiang will lead a delegation. This will be the first time Xi Jinping has missed a BRICS summit.
The South China Morning Post reported that Beijing authorities informed the Brazilian government that Xi Jinping's schedule conflicted with the summit, and quoted Chinese people involved in the preparations as saying that Xi Jinping had met with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva twice in less than a year, including at the G20 summit held in Brazil in November last year and the China-CELAC Forum held in Beijing in May this year.
Li Qiang will lead the Chinese delegation to the summit on his behalf. He also led a delegation to the G20 summit held in India in 2023.
Indian Prime Minister Modi invited to attend state banquet
The report pointed out that Xi Jinping has never missed the BRICS summit. There is speculation that Lula's invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the state banquet after the summit may have influenced China's decision because Xi Jinping may be "seen as a supporting role" on this occasion.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that information on participation in the BRICS summit will be released in due course. China supports Brazil's presidency of the BRICS and is committed to "promoting deeper cooperation among BRICS countries." He said that in a turbulent world, the BRICS countries maintain their strategic resolve to jointly safeguard world peace, stability and development.
