Beijing, Sep 4 (EFE).- Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend the G20 summit to be held over the weekend in New Delhi, China announced Monday.
The announcement confirms unofficial reports indicating that Chinese President Xi Jinping would skip the summit.
In a brief statement on its website, the Chinese foreign ministry said that Li would attend the Group of 20 summit in India on Sep. 9-10.
Qiang will also represent his country at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) scheduled to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, between Sep. 5-7.
On Sunday, United States President Joe Biden told US media he was “disappointed” that Xi was not attending the summit.
“But I am going to get to see him,” he added.
Tensions between China and the US have escalated in the last few months over a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over US territory and Taiwan.
Several senior US officials have visited China in recent months, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Commerce and Treasury secretaries, Gina Reimondo and Janet Yellen, in what has been seen as a thaw in bilateral ties.
Xi has traveled overseas twice so far this year.
In March, he visited Moscow, where he met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and he attended the BRICS summit in South Africa in late August. EFE
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