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Business Standard
12 hours ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Xi Jinping to skip Brics Summit in Rio, Li Qiang to lead Chinese delegation
Chinese President Xi Jinping will not be attending the upcoming Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro, marking the first time he will miss the annual gathering of major emerging economies, the South China Morning Post reported. Premier Li Qiang is set to represent China at the summit, continuing the precedent from the 2023 G20 summit in India, where he also led the Chinese delegation in place of Xi. Premier Li is expected to arrive in Brazil late next week and remain in Rio de Janeiro for the duration of the summit, which will be held on July 6 and 7. Beijing has informed the Brazilian government that Xi's absence is due to a scheduling conflict, the news report said. Chinese sources involved in the summit's preparations pointed out that Xi had already met Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva twice within the past year — once during a state visit to Brasília in November 2023, and again in May during the China-Celac forum in Beijing, the news report said. A rare miss from China's president Xi has consistently participated in Brics summits since becoming China's top leader. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, he joined virtually — first in 2020 when Russia hosted, and again in 2021 when China held the summit. In 2023, although Xi was expected to speak at the Brics summit in South Africa, he sent Commerce Minister Wang Wentao at the last minute. No explanation was given at the time. Brazil's foreign ministry declined to comment on 'internal deliberations of foreign delegations' when asked about the matter. However, Guo Jiakun, spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, told Brazilian daily Folha de that 'information about participation in the summit will be shared at the appropriate time'. He added that China supports Brazil's Brics presidency and aims to 'promote deeper cooperation' among the member states. 'In a volatile and turbulent world, Brics nations maintain their strategic resolve and work together for global peace, stability and development,' Guo said. Brazilian disappointment over Xi's no-show In Brasília, officials have expressed clear disappointment over Xi's decision. A source told The Post that Lula's visit to Beijing in May was 'a gesture of goodwill' and had come with 'the expectation that the Chinese president would reciprocate' by attending the summit in Rio, the South China Morning Post said. Some speculate that Xi skipped the event because Lula invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a state dinner after the summit, which may have made Xi feel like a 'supporting actor.' Questions about Xi's attendance had been circulating since February. During a visit to Beijing, Lula's special adviser for international affairs, Celso Amorim, discussed the issue with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. At the time, Amorim acknowledged the increasing difficulty of international travel for heads of state but said he had urged China to consider Xi's presence essential. 'I said to them, 'Brics without China is not Brics',' Amorim said. He noted that former Chinese President Hu Jintao had once flown to Brazil for the first Brics summit despite a major earthquake in China. 'He stayed only one day, but he came.' Amorim emphasised the importance of Xi's participation in the context of global instability, pointing to the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organisation. 'It's especially important now,' he said.
The Star
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
China's Xi Jinping urges countries to ‘stand united' in face of global trade war
President Xi Jinping has called for countries to stand together to promote global peace and stability, stressing that 'there were no winners in tariff wars', in a veiled reference to the US. In his first public remarks since US-China trade talks at the weekend, Xi told leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean that 'bullying or hegemonism only leads to self-isolation'. Xi was speaking at the opening of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-Celac forum – a grouping of the Caribbean Community of Latin American and Caribbean States – in Beijing on Tuesday. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. 'The world is undergoing a century of rapid change, with multiple risks compounding one another. Only through solidarity and cooperation can countries maintain world peace and stability,' he said. Xi told the gathering that China and countries from Latin America and the Caribbean were important members of the Global South, adding that development was their inherent right and that fairness and justice were their shared pursuits. China was willing to work with countries in the face of rising geopolitical tensions and bloc confrontations and the 'surging undercurrents of unilateralism and protectionism', he said. Xi announced five programmes that will involve China working with countries from the two regions over the next three years. They included enhancing coordination on international affairs, deepening trade and cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges. 'We will work with [Latin American and Caribbean] countries to firmly safeguard the international system ... and to speak with one voice in international and regional affairs,' Xi said. 'China agrees that Latin America will jointly implement the Global Development Initiative and firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system. It is important to maintain the stability and smooth flow of global industrial and supply chains and to maintain an open and cooperative international environment.' Xi added that China would also provide 66 billion yuan (US$9.14 billion) in credit funds to the region, as well as strengthening law enforcement cooperation to help train their personnel and provide necessary material support. He also announced that China would grant visa exemptions for a first batch of five Latin American and Caribbean countries to boost exchanges and highlighted trade progress with the region, as he backed the idea of economic globalisation that 'aligns with the trend'. Under the belt and road framework, more than 200 infrastructure projects have been implemented in the region, creating over a million jobs. Bilateral trade also exceeded US$500 billion for the first time last year, a 40-fold increase compared to the start of this century. 'We unite in tough times to conquer challenges through mutual support,' Xi said. Over the next three years, Xi pledged to continue cooperation in food and agriculture while also expanding cooperation in areas such as clean energy, digital economy, and artificial intelligence. Top officials from Latin America and the Caribbean, including the presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Chile were among those attending the forum. In their speeches, the foreign leaders sought to strike a message of unity in turbulent times, with Colombian President Gustavo Petro saying that countries 'must not destroy our trade or threaten each other with bombs'. Instead they should promote multilateralism, he said. Petro, whose country is a major US military ally in the region, announced after his arrival in Beijing on Monday that Colombia would be signing on to the belt and road infrastructure plan. Chilean President Gabriel Boric said the world had been marked by fragmentation and rising geopolitical tensions, and that 'we reaffirm our conviction to free and fair trade as it is a path to progress and prosperity'. 'We stay committed to strategic independence, and we often say that sovereignty does not only mean to respect the physical border of one country, but to respect the right of a country to decide the future of itself and to carry out trade ... it cannot be just decided by one or two countries.' Boric said he looked forward to implementing the five programmes with China that were outlined by Xi, and praised the benefits that the belt and road plan had brought to the region. Xi's message was in line with China's broader efforts to enlist support from other countries, particularly in the Global South, against the backdrop of its trade war with the United States – despite talks on the weekend which resulted in both sides agreeing to cutting their reciprocal tariffs by 115 per cent during a 90-day pause. Washington is also seeking to expand its influence in what it regards as its backyard, including putting pressure on Panama to free the canal through the country from what the White House views as Chinese control. According to China's foreign ministry, Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi will chair a meeting with foreign ministers from the more than 30 Celac countries attending the forum. In a commentary published by the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily on Tuesday, Wang stressed the strong ties between China and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. They have firmly supported each other's core interests and opposed 'hegemony and power politics', he said. China's investments in the two regions came with no political conditions, which stood in contrast to 'some major powers [that] have only brought negative energy' to the regions', Wang added, in another apparent reference to the US. 'It is clear who is a reliable friend of Latin American and Caribbean countries and who is a partner for long-term cooperation.' Wang also pointed out that 'some major countries' have been pursuing policies that put their own countries first, and called for countries to join China in standing 'on the right side of history [and] on the side of fairness and justice'. Chinese state news agency Xinhua quoted Miao Deyu, assistant minister of foreign affairs for Latin America, as saying that multiple cooperation documents were expected to be adopted, including in technology, artificial intelligence and trade. 'The [meeting] will send a clear message of China and the Celac countries working together in solidarity to jointly address global challenges,' Miao said. 'Both China and the Celac countries support economic globalisation, multilateralism and the multilateral trading system, oppose unilateralism and economic bullying, and oppose politicising and weaponising economic and trade relations.' Last week, the Chinese leader delivered similar messages in talks with his Venezuelan and Cuban counterparts in Moscow. Calling ties 'ironclad', he told Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that China stood ready to work with Latin America to firmly uphold the international order. Xi also told Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel that Cuba should work with China to 'oppose power politics and unilateral bullying and safeguard international fairness and justice'. Celac has served as a key intergovernmental platform for cooperation between China and Latin American and Caribbean nations since 2015. It has become a major venue for dialogue on trade, investment, and infrastructure collaboration under the belt and road framework. To mark the forum's 10th anniversary, Beijing hosted a high-level gathering that brought together more than a dozen heads of state and foreign ministers from the region, including the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Chile. The event took place as China stepped up its diplomatic engagement with Global South nations amid escalating trade tensions with Washington. On April 2, most Latin American countries were hit with a baseline 10 per cent tariff by the United States, with some, like Venezuela, facing even higher rates. However, President Donald Trump later granted a 90-day reprieve to most nations to allow time for trade negotiations with the US. More from South China Morning Post: For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2025.
The Star
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
China's Xi slams 'bullying' as Beijing hosts Latin American leaders
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed Tuesday to deepen ties with Latin America and condemned "bullying" in a thinly veiled swipe at the United States, as he addressed regional leaders in Beijing. Leaders and officials from Latin America and the Caribbean have descended on the Chinese capital for the China-Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum. Beijing has stepped up economic and political cooperation with Latin American nations in recent years and has urged a united front against US President Donald Trump's recent maelstrom of tariffs. Latin America has emerged as a key battleground in Trump's confrontation with China, and the region is coming under pressure from Washington to choose a side. Addressing leaders on Tuesday (May 13), Xi hailed China's burgeoning ties with the region. "Although China lies far from the Latin American and Caribbean region, the two sides have a time-honoured history of friendly exchanges," Xi told the opening ceremony, likening the summit to a "great, sturdy tree". "Only through unity and cooperation can countries safeguard global peace and stability and promote worldwide development and prosperity," Xi said. The Chinese leader also pledged US$9.2 billion in credit towards "development" for the region -- part of a broad set of initiatives aimed at deepening cooperation, including on infrastructure and clean energy. Beijing will also work with the region in counterterrorism and fighting transnational organised crime, Xi said, as well as enhancing exchanges such as scholarships and training programmes. Xi's remarks come a day after the United States and China announced a deal to drastically reduce tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days, an outcome Trump dubbed a "total reset". Under that agreement, the United States agreed to lower its tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 per cent while China will reduce its own to 10 per cent. The deal marked a major de-escalation of a gruelling trade war between the world's two largest economies which threw global markets into turmoil. "There are no winners in tariff wars or trade wars," Xi said. "Bullying and hegemony will only lead to self-isolation," the Chinese leader added. "The world today is undergoing accelerated transformations unseen in a century, with multiple risks intertwined and overlapping," Xi said. Among notable attendees at the forum is Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who arrived in Beijing on Saturday for a five-day state visit. Also present is Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who last week said he intends to sign an accord to join Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative during his visit. Petro called for "dialogue between civilizations" that took into account the interests of the region. "A horizontal dialogue, rather than a vertical one, can be free of authoritarianism, of imperialism, of the give and take between civilizations," he said. Two-thirds of Latin American countries have joined Beijing's trillion-dollar BRI infrastructure programme, and China has surpassed the US as the biggest trading partner of Brazil, Peru and Chile, among others. Chilean President Gabriel Boric told the forum that his country would take a "leap forward in economic relations with China". - AFP
