Xi Jinping Surprises by Skipping Speech At BRICS Summit Targeting Dollar Dominance

Chinese leader Xi Jinping was absent from a business forum of the BRICS economic group in South Africa on Tuesday. Instead, his commerce minister delivered a fiery speech in his stead, CNN reported.

Xi arrived in Johannesburg for the annual BRICS summit of major emerging economies, where he was slated to give a speech on Tuesday. However, Xi did not attend the event, offering no official explanation for his absence. Observers of Chinese foreign policy are questioning the absence.

"It's extremely unusual for a Chinese leader to show up in a country hosting a multilateral meeting – especially one that China is deeply invested in, like BRICS – and fail to show up at the opening event," said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund's Indo-Pacific program.

Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, speculated that an urgent matter or a health incident may have prevented Xi from attending the meeting.

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China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao read Xi’s prepared statement, which contained veiled criticisms aimed at the U.S., a common feature of Xi’s international speeches. The statement implicitly denounced a country, presumably the U.S., for its attempts to impede the growth of emerging markets and developing nations.

Despite his absence from the forum, Xi later attended a dinner hosted by South African President Ramaphosa, along with leaders of Brazil and India, and Russia’s foreign minister.

Chinese state media and diplomats have not clarified the reasons behind Xi’s no-show. The state news agency Xinhua did not even acknowledge Xi’s absence in their report on the event.

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