Chinese President Xi Jinping will not be visiting New Delhi to attend the G20 summit, instead Premier Li Qiang is coming for the global event, said a news report by Hindustantimes.com on Thursday.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will be flying directly to New Delhi after attending the 43rd ASEAN summit in Jakarta on September 5-7.  Flight plans for the VVIP aircraft have been filed though official intimation is still awaited by Ministry of External Affairs, said the report citing authoritative sources. 

Recently, China had published a map of the Communist nation and coopted parts of Aksai Chin and entire Arunachal Pradesh as part of cartographical expansion, which prompted India to lodge a strong protest.

According to the report, “the Chinese president is miffed with PM Modi’s response that normal ties can be resumed only after People’s Liberation Army (PLA) withdraws its forces from Aksai Chin and Indian Army’s patrolling rights are restored in Depsang Bulge and in CNN junction in Demchok.”

Xi has attended all other in-person G20 summits since becoming president in 2013 except in 2021 during the Covid pandemic when he joined through by video link.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already said that he will not be visiting to New Delhi and will send foreign minister Sergei Lavrov instead for the G20 Summit.

According to a report by Reuters, the summit in India had been seen as a venue for a possible meeting between Xi and US President Joe Biden, as the two superpowers seek to stabilise relations soured by trade and geopolitical tensions. 

The Chinese president last met Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia last November.

Several G20 ministerial meetings in India ahead of the summit have been contentious as Russia and China together opposed joint statements which included paragraphs condemning Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine last year.

 (With inputs from Reuters)

Updated: 31 Aug 2023, 11:27 PM IST