Screenshot from Narendra Modi’s YouTube channel.

While the majority of world leaders attended this year's G20 summit in India (September 9–10, 2023), China’s President Xi Jinping skipped the meeting and instead toured China’s northeast region on a “revitalization plan” — a clear signal about China's shifting priorities. Instead, China was represented by Premier Li Qiang. 

This is the first time Xi has skipped the summit since he became the Chinese President in 2012, and there hasn’t been any official explanation for his absence. This has raised concerns among Western media outlets. 

A commentary from the Financial Times interpreted Xi’s move as a “retreat from international diplomacy.” In contrast, another commentary from CNN saw Xi’s no-show as a part of “a plan to reshape global governance.” Some also pointed to domestic woes in China to explain his absence. 

As both China and Russia were sidelined thanks to the absence of their top leaders, India, the G20 host, drew all the spotlight as the primary leader of the Global South during the summit.

Downgrading the significance of G20

Within mainland China, the news about the Opening of the G20 summit did not appear on the front page of major state-owned media outlets on September 10. 

On the September 10 front page of People's Daily, for example, all headlines were about Xi Jinping. Gao Falin, a Chinese political news blogger, shared the front page on X (formerly known as Twitter): 

习近平为什么缺席G20峰会？看了这天《人民日报》头版就知道他有多么忙碌了！
考考您的眼力：版面上还有哪个标题写了“习近平”却被遗漏、没用红笔圈出？ pic.twitter.com/0xi93HBteg

— 高伐林 (@GaoFalin) September 11, 2023

Why was Xi Jinping absent from the G20 Summit? Read the front page of today’s People’s Daily, and you will know how busy he was!

All the news items on the front page mention “Xi Jinping” in the headlines. These headlines were about Xi Jinping's roundtable on northeast China’s revitalization plan, his political message on the country's Teacher's Day, and his diplomatic communications with North Korea on the country's 75th anniversary and natural disaster condolences to Morocco and Brazil. 

On Chinese social media, there were very few discussions about the G20, but several nationalist bloggers did express their views on Xi’s absence. V-shan-shan, a military news blogger with 1.7 million followers, for example, claimed that China had downgraded the significance of G20: 

今年，中国在国际关系上，有一个重大变化，就是对G20采取了降级处理。[…]中国与前些年对G20峰会当重要的调节国际经济、政治联系，把G20峰会当做全球化进程中，处理全球经济政策问题时扮演着重要角色的认知，已经改变。

受制于俄乌冲突的影响，G20峰会这一年多来，完全脱离了经济议题本身，变成了相互指责的政治俱乐部。

This year, China has significantly changed its international relations by downgrading the G20. […]China previously considered the G20 summit a vital channel to regulate international economic and political ties. Yet, the role of the G20 summit as the process of globalization in dealing with global economic policy issues has changed.

Against the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the G20 summit has voided economic agendas and turned into a political club of mutual accusations.

Another military blogger shared a similar view on WeChat and claimed that the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization, led by Russia and China, will replace G7 and G20 in driving economic globalization. 

India replaces China as the EU and US's Asian partner

However, the US and European leaders did not insist on condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during the summit. Instead, a MOU was signed among Saudi Arabia, the European Union, India, the UAE, France, Germany, Italy, and the US on the development of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a project similar to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) development project.

Notably, Itay has announced it will withdraw from the BRI as it has signed agreements with the IMEC plan. Commentator @rakeshkhajuria compared the IMEC and BRI maps on X and pointed to Italy's role in both projects:

Biggest win from G20 summit is the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor.

And the cherry on top is Italy hinting to walk out of China's Belt and Road initiative.

Just look at Italy's placement in that plan!! It's there joining the maritime and road belts. pic.twitter.com/aFX0lLTprh

— raka (@rakeshkhajuria) September 11, 2023

China said it welcomed the IMEC project, provided that it would not turn into a geopolitical tool.

But, on Chinese social media, many slammed the IMEC as a move to isolate China. A commentary by China state-sponsored news outlet Dotdotnews pointed out:

印欧走廊横跨南亚、西亚、中东、欧洲经济体，全长超过3000英里(4828公里)。毫无疑问，这是拜登当局纠集欧亚大国，以所谓“香料之路” 抗衡丝绸之路，是旨在对抗中国推动多国大型基建的 “一带一路”，并在加强经济合作的基础上，强化各国的军事战略准同盟关系，构筑围堵中国的冷战铁幕。

The Indo-European Corridor spans more than 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) across the economies of South Asia, West Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Undoubtedly, this is the Biden government's attempt to aggregate Eurasian powers to counteract China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ with their so-called ‘Spice Road,’ which seeks to strengthen military-strategic alliances on the basis of enhanced economic cooperation. The goal is to construct a Cold War Iron Curtain to encircle China.

Another finance and economic news blogger, Gu Zi-ming, also pointed to the IMEC and joint statement between the US and India, as well as the more recent agreement between the US and Vietnam on the development of Vietnam's semiconductor industry and other advanced technology as a geopolitical means to sideline China’s role in the global production chain. 

Apart from strengthening economic ties with the US and Europe, India also won international credit for helping the African Union get a seat at the G20. Local Indian newspapers stressed:

‘Bridge between West & rest': India challenges China in quest to champion the ‘Global South’

The report added that India also presided over the decision to add the African Union to the #G20 in its campaign to be the champion of the global south. https://t.co/IpcE6YAsKC

— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) September 12, 2023

Political scientist Ian Bremmer summed up the summit as a huge success for India:

world class g20 summit for india.

improving leadership in global south.

strengthening bilateral relations with united states and g7 members.

and for all that, remaining quite friendly with the russians.

india-china the only major sore spot. pic.twitter.com/nAuTMG9JrI

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) September 10, 2023