Bloomberg, a leading United States media house, has labelled Chinese President Xi Jinping as “emperor” after he decided to skip the G20 summit in India.
On August 31, Reuters and others reported that Xi was likely to skip the summit of G20 leaders in India from Sept 9-10, but the spokesperson Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to the request for comment.
In an article Bloomberg has said Xi seems to be taking a different approach, dodging an event where he will likely face thorny questions over China’s economic trajectory, Beijing’s military aggression towards Taiwan and support of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
It quoted US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo as saying that China’s abrupt policy change had made the nation nearly “uninvestible”.
However, the next major event on the world stage would be the Belt and Road Forum to be held in Beijing this October, which Russian President Vladimir Putin was confirmed to attend. He is also skipping the G20 summit in India.
Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy said that Xi now has an ‘emperor mindset’ and expects dignitaries to come to him.
“Xi enjoys a very high status when he receives foreign guests at home,” Wu added. “He also received special treatment at the BRICS summit. But he’s unlikely to get that G-20.”
Since China lifted COVID-19 restrictions, leaders from Germany and France, along with four seniors of the Biden administration have visited Beijing.
A former Pentagon official Drew Thompson said that Xi was focused on bolstering China’s growing power in dependable groupings.
“China seeks to dominate a group of smaller, less-developed states like BRICS or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization where China can dictate the agenda,” he added.
Karin Vazquez, a Shanghai-based associate professor of diplomatic practice at India’s O.P. Jindal Global University said: “Certainly the momentum for dialogue is not ripe.”
“China-India bilateral ties are more consequential here than China-US ties,” he said. “It raises the question of whether the G-20 is reaching the end of its effective lifespan.”
