Chinese President XI Jinping's G-20 absence due to reprimand by elders?

New Delhi, September 6

Did Xi Jinping skip the G-20 Summit as well as the ASEAN summit that preceded it due to a tongue-lashing he got from retired party elders at the once-a-year retreat by the seaside with Government office-bearers at what is called the Beidaihe retreat?

Indeed, there is much that has gone awry in domestic Chinese politics. The decadal rollover of leadership – barring Xi as President – turned messy when the new Foreign Minister Qin Gang disappeared from public view for over a month and was later substituted by his predecessor he was supposed to replace. Exports have turned sluggish due to Beijing’s slugfest with the West, its top export destination, and economic growth is at its lowest level.

According to reports by old China hands, the charge was led by former Vice-President Zeng Qinghong who was a close ally of former President Jiang Zemin, who passed away in November last year. It is said Zeng was one of the leaders who played an important role in ensuring XI’s rise to power. The elders may also have been perturbed in the manner in which Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao was forcibly escorted out of the Communist Party of China’s National Congress in October last year.

Reports said as a result of the venting by the elders, Premier Li Qiang, who’s in-charge of the economy, will be standing in for Xi at both the economically-centered ASEAN and G-20 meets.

Xi had earlier not appeared at a business forum addressed by all the leaders on the sidelines of the recent BRICS summit in South Africa. It is now thought that Xi might have skipped the session to avoid inconvenient questions on the Chinese economy. All eyes are on whether Xi will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum’s Summit in November in San Francisco.