“Chinese Premier Li Qiang will represent the country at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, while Xi Jinping will miss the event”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“It is of historical importance that the G20 summit is being held on the African continent for the first time. China supports South Africa’s chairmanship of the G20 and is ready to work with various parties under the slogan of ‘Solidarity, Equality, Sustainable Development’ to reach a consensus at the summit to support multilateralism, build an open world economy and promote development cooperation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian later said at a briefing.
Xi’s decision means that the leaders of the world’s two largest economies and another member state, Russia, will not be present at the summit, which is designed to address geopolitical and economic issues and is usually attended by heads of state.
Trump said last week that no US officials would attend the summit, after he attacked South Africa with claims of genocide against white Afrikaners.
The G20 summit will be held on 21-22 November 2025 in Johannesburg. In May 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States would not participate in the summit in South Africa. However, it was later announced that the US vice president was still going to the summit.