BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping is apparently skipping this week’s Group of 20 summit in India as bilateral relations remain icy. Instead…
Chinese President Xi Jinping is apparently skipping this week’s Group of 20 summit in India as bilateral relations remain icy.
Instead, Premier Li Qiang will represent China at the Sept. 9-10 gathering, the Foreign Ministry said Monday in a one sentence notice on its website.
Relations between China and India have grown frosty over their disputed border, and three years ago the tensions resulted in a clash in the Ladakh region that killed 20 Indian and four soldiers. It turned into a long-running standoff in the rugged mountainous area, where each side has stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets.
Frictions have also risen over trade and India’s growing strategic ties with China’s main rival the United States. Both India and China have expelled the other’s journalists.
India recently overtook China as the world’s most populous nation and the two are rivals in technology, space exploration and global trade.
Chinese and Indian military commanders met just last month and pledged to “maintain the peace and tranquility” along their disputed border, in an apparent effort by the sides to stabilize the situation.
