Chinese President Xi Jinping unexpected failure to show up at the Brics Business Forum on Tuesday in South Africa, has sparked speculations about the reason for his absence.
The leaders of BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are meeting in Johannesburg this week. Xi arrived on Monday for the meeting as a state visit.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the only leader not attending, addressed the summit virtually.
Nigeria’s vice president Kashim Shettima is attending the summit as an observer.
– “Mysterious”
Xi was originally scheduled to be seated next to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but he was replaced by Wang who later addressed the summit.
The reason for Xi’s last-minute change in plans is not known, but it has sparked rumours among China analysts.
“A very unusual first day for the Chinese delegation at the BRICS summit in South Africa after President Xi Jinping did not show up for a scheduled speech at the BRICS Business Forum,” China Global South Project, a non-profit media organization that covers China’s engagement with Africa, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, asked on X, “Where is Xi? Why didn’t he give the speech at the BRICS Business Forum?”
Andy Mok, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing think tank, cautioned against blowing the development out of proportion.
“There could be numerous reasons for his absence, ranging from personal to diplomatic, and it’s essential to wait for official statements or more concrete information,” he said, according to Nikkei Asia.
– Learn more
The summit began on Tuesday and will end Thursday.
One of the Brics summit main agenda is the expansion of the bloc to counter-weigh Western dominance of global institutions.
In the speech read by Wang, Xi accused the US – without naming it – sof fighting countries that threaten its dominance in global affairs.
He said the country was “obsessed with maintaining hegemony, [and] has gone out of its way to cripple the emerging markets and developing countries”.
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