There are speculations that Brazil president’s invitation to PM Modi for a state dinner following the Brics Summit may have led China’s Xi to pull out
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In a first, Chinese President Xi Jinping might skip the upcoming Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro; and the speculations have already caused frustration among Brazilian officials.
Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, citing officials, that Xi may not attend next week’s summit owing to ‘scheduling issues’. Premier Li Qiang is expected to lead the Chinese delegation.
The SCMP also reported speculations that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a state dinner following the Brics Summit may have influenced Beijing’s decision.
According to the Post, the Chinese side is fearing that Lula-Modi meeting may grab the limelight, and Xi might look as “a supporting actor”.
Brazil ‘frustrated’
Along with scheduling issues, the Chinese officials say another reason for speculated Xi’s absence at the summit is that Lula and Xi have met 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.
Despite these speculations, Beijing has said it supports Brazil’s Brics presidency. Guo Jiakun, the Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesman, said Beijing sought to “promote deeper cooperation” among its members.
“In a volatile and turbulent world, Brics nations maintain their strategic resolve and work together for global peace, stability and development,” he added.
However, officials in Brazil are pulling no punches.
A source in Brasília told the Post that Lula had travelled to Beijing in May as “a gesture of goodwill” and with “the expectation that the Chinese president would reciprocate” by attending the BRICS Summit.
Even in February, Lula’s special adviser for international affairs Celso Amorim had raised this matter with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Amorim reportedly told the Chinese side that they were hoping to host Xi Jinping.
“I said to them, ‘Brics without China is not Brics’,” Amorim said, recalling that during the first Brics summit in Brazil, then-president Hu Jintao attended despite a major earthquake in his country. “He stayed only one day, but he came.”
He said it was important for China to reinforce its presence at the world stage, given the “breaking of international rules” with “[the US] leaving the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization”.
The 17th BRICS Summit in Rio, hosted by Brazil and chaired by President Lula, unites leaders of major emerging economies to discuss global cooperation. Notably, in October 2024, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping held their first
bilateral
meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russia after the 2020 bloody clashes between the two sides in the Himalayas, highlighting the platform’s role in fostering dialogue.
