China’s Xi will give enlarged BRICs Summit a miss, first time ever

Key topics:Xi Jinping to skip BRICS summit, sending Premier Li Qiang insteadXi’s absence may weaken China’s BRICS influence and global strategyModi’s strong presence in Brazil could impact China’s diplomatic optics.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..By Simone Iglesias.President Xi Jinping will miss a meeting of BRICS leaders in Rio de Janeiro, according to a Brazilian official familiar with the matter, marking the first time the Chinese leader has skipped the summit since taking power.China has informed Brazil that Xi will be represented at next month’s huddle by Premier Li Qiang, according to the government official, who requested anonymity as the information isn’t yet public. Li previously filled in for his boss at the Group of Twenty summit in India in 2023.Beijing blamed a scheduling conflict for Xi’s absence, people familiar with the matter told the South China Morning Post, which first reported the news. The people also said Xi’s frequent meetings with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva over the past year were a factor. When asked about reports Xi would skip BRICS, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday that his nation would release information on who it was sending “in due course.”The septuagenarians met at the G-20 summit in Brazil in November, followed by Xi’s state visit to Brasilia. A few months later, Lula came to Beijing for a conclave of Latin American and Caribbean nations. It’s unusual for Xi to visit any country two years in a row, aside from Russia. .Read more:.Xi Jinping calls for Global South unity, challenges US influence.Xi’s absence could undermine his efforts to use the BRICS bloc to expand China’s global influence and build an alternative to the US-led world order. The summit would have also given the Chinese leader his first chance to sit down with Iranian officials since the war with Israel began, after the Islamic Republic joined the bloc in 2024. His non-attendance will contrast with the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who currently plans to remain in Brazil for a state visit after the summit, according to a person familiar with the matter. The details of that trip are still being finalized, added the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.Modi’s guest-of-honor status may also be influencing Xi’s calculus. While ties between India and China have warmed in recent months, attending a summit to lesser fanfare than another world leader could create awkward optics for China’s most-powerful leader since Mao Zedong.Largely under Beijing’s push, the BRICS grouping doubled in size last year to reach nine members with the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia also joining Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Lula has emerged as one of Xi’s closest partners on the world stage, along with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. There’s still the possibility Xi will turn up for the UN climate conference held in Brazil later this year, although Beijing hasn’t confirmed such a trip..© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

China’s Xi will give enlarged BRICs Summit a miss, first time ever

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