In a first, Xi will miss Brics summit in Rio as Li Qiang leads China delegation: sources
Chinese President
Xi Jinping will not attend next week's
Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro, marking his first-ever absence from the gathering of leading emerging economies, the Post learned from multiple sources on Tuesday.
According to officials familiar with the matter, Beijing told the Brazilian government that Xi had a scheduling conflict. Instead, Premier
Li Qiang is expected to lead the Chinese delegation, as he did at the
G20 summit in
India in 2023.
Chinese involved in preparations, they said, cited Xi's having met with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva twice in less than a year – first at the G20 summit and state visit to Brasília last November, and again in May during the China-Celac forum in Beijing – as a reason for his absence.
As China's leader, Xi has never missed a Brics summit. In 2023, when Xi was expected to give a speech at the gathering in
South Africa , at the last minute he sent Commerce Minister
Wang Wentao in his place. Beijing offered no official explanation at the time.
Play
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
BYD expands car-carrier fleet, Tesla's Robotaxi vs Baidu's Apollo Go: 7 EV reads
We have put together stories from our coverage on electric and new energy vehicles from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing BYD, the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) maker, has taken delivery of two new car-carrying ships – the largest yet in a growing fleet – as it bets on export growth to counter brutal competition at home. Chinese smartphone and car maker Xiaomi has moved up the launch of its latest electric vehicle model amid strong consumer interest in the SUV, which is seen as a potential challenger to the dominance of Tesla's Model Y. Visitors look at a display at the booth of SemiDrive Technology at the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show. Chinese automotive chip firm SemiDrive will start supplying its cockpit system-on-a-chip (SoC) to an undisclosed European carmaker late next year, marking its first collaboration on the continent to push for global sales, a senior executive said.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
How deep will China go as it aims to boost gold production by more than 5%?
China plans to use new mining technology and also dig deeper to increase gold production over the next three years as demand for the precious metal soars amid rising geopolitical tensions. In the 2025-2027 gold industry development action plan released on Monday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and eight other agencies pledged to increase China's gold reserves by 5 to 10 per cent and also raise gold output by more than 5 per cent. 'Gold is a strategic mineral resource with both commodity and currency attributes, and it is of great significance to maintaining national industrial and financial security,' the ministry said in a news release posted on its website. It said China's gold industry still faces significant challenges, such as insufficient resource security and difficulties in meeting demand from key technologies. 'The action plan is set to promote the high-quality development and high-level safety of the gold industry,' the ministry said. China has been the world's top gold consumer for 12 years, according to the China Gold Association, which said 985.31 tonnes were bought last year. Gold output stood at 377.24 tonnes last year, extending China's record as the world's largest producer to 18 years.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
199 Hongkongers seek help after closure of ‘snow skin' mooncake inventor Taipan
About 200 employees of a 41-year-old Hong Kong bakery chain, known for its 'snow skin' mooncakes, have sought help after the firm's abrupt closure, a trade union has said, with debts snowballing to more than HK$38 million (US$4.8 million). The Hotels, Food and Beverage Employees Association said on Wednesday that workers at Taipan Bread & Cakes had already anticipated a possible closure because the company had not recruited more employees for producing and packaging mooncakes in mid-June, when sales usually started, adding the number of affected staff members was expected to increase. 'Many staff members had worked there for a long time. They hoped the company was just handling cash flow issues, so they stayed to observe,' Nerine Yip Lau-ching, the association's general secretary, told a radio programme. According to Yip, the bakery chain had stopped paying wages since May and staff's Mandatory Provident Fund for one to two months. But some workers opted to stay and see if the company would resolve its financing problems. Taipan earned its reputation with the creation of snow skin, or snowy, mooncakes in 1989. Photo: Handout As of Tuesday, the association has offered help to 199 staff members, mostly factory workers. The amount of money owed has grown to more than HK$38 million, involving mostly unpaid wages, payment in lieu of notice, severance and long service payments. But Yip said she expected the local food industry to be able to absorb the workers from Taipan and revealed that a major bakery factory on Tuesday had expressed wishes to recruit the affected staff.
