China’s first reaction to Xi boycotting the Delhi G20 meeting was, “We support India in”

A day after announcing that Premier Li Qiang would represent China and not President Xi Jinping at the meeting, Beijing has said that relations between the two countries have been steady for some time and that Beijing supports New Delhi in hosting the G20 summit in 2023.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said that her nation was prepared to cooperate with the hosts to ensure the success of the New Delhi G20 summit at the daily briefing on Tuesday.

According to her, the G20 is the foremost venue for global economic cooperation. “We support India in hosting this year’s summit and stand ready to work with all parties to make the G20 Summit a success,” she added.

Ning said that bilateral relationships between the two nations have generally been steady and that Beijing was willing to cooperate with New Delhi to further strengthen them. She was questioned whether the Chinese president decided to boycott the Delhi G20 conference because of strained Indo-Sino relations.

The two nations’ and their peoples’ shared interests are served by the ongoing development and strengthening of China-India ties. To further strengthen and deepen our bilateral ties with India, we are ready to collaborate with them, she said.

China said earlier on Monday that Premier Li Qiang, not President Xi Jinping, will represent the nation at the 18th G20 meeting, which will be held in India on September 9–10.

Premier of the State Council Li Qiang will attend the 18th G20 Summit, which will take place in New Delhi, India, on September 9 and 10, at the request of the government of the Republic of India, according to a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry.

Although there was no official explanation for Xi’s absence, observers think China is uneasy about India’s rising international reputation. XI’s decision to boycott the G20 summit was made a few days after the debate over the map. The Indian provinces of Ladakh and Arunanchal Pradesh were shown on a warped map that China had published.

September 9–10 will see the G20 Summit in New Delhi, under the auspices of India. Leading world figures including US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be present at the meeting.