Chinese President Xi Jinping avoided face-to-face contact with foreign leaders at world summits this week and on Thursday visited the homes of people in a rural area in northeast China that was affected by the coronavirus. the floods.
In Longwangmiao city, Heilongjiang province, Xi called on local residents to overcome their difficulties and work for a return to normal, state media reported. He was also interested in losing weight and providing for basic needs.
Record rains in late July and early August devastated much of northern China, inundating cities and farmlands unaccustomed to severe storms more common in the south, but Xi had not visited any of the disaster-hit areas as of this week.
Inspecting rice fields and damaged houses in Longwangmiao, which was hit by the remnants of Super Typhoon Doksuri, Xi missed an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Indonesia this week and will also miss an opportunity to meet with US President Joe on Saturday and Sunday to meet Biden at a G20 conclave in India.
However, in late August, Xi attended a meeting in South Africa with leaders of the BRICS group of key emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and the host country.
China has not explained why Xi, who has attended every G20 summit since coming to power more than a decade ago, is not heading Beijing’s delegation in New Delhi. He only said that Premier Li Qiang would represent China.
By comparison, Xi left China for five overseas visits in 2022, when the country’s borders were effectively closed due to pandemic controls, and for a dozen before COVID-19 in 2019.
Reuters previously reported, citing foreign diplomats in China, that Xi’s absence from the G20 summit may be a sign of Beijing’s growing coolness towards the West and its allies.
