Chinese President Xi Jinping will not be attending the upcoming summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning announced in Beijing on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Li Qiang will travel to this year’s meeting in Brazil, she said.
No reason was given for Xi’s absence.
The Kremlin has announced that Russia President Vladimir Putin would also not attend the meeting.
His absence is linked to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, which Brazil as a signatory to the Rome Statute would be obligated to enforce.
Media reports have suggested that Xi would not be travelling to the gathering in Rio de Janeiro on July 6 and 7 due to scheduling conflicts.
This is the first time the 72-year-old would not be attending a BRICS summit, but it is not the first time he has skipped a major gathering of world leaders.
Li attended the Group of 20 summit in 2023 held in India on his behalf.
An ongoing dispute with India was cited as the reason for Xi’s cancellation then.
The acronym BRICS stands for the first letters of the first five members: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates joined the group at the beginning of 2024.
The states see themselves as a forum for cooperation between countries of the Global South.
The BRICS group is partly seen as a counterweight to the G7 alliance of leading Western economic powers. (dpa/NAN)
