In a first, Xi will miss Brics summit in Rio as Li Qiang leads China delegation: sources
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.
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