JOHANNESBURG – President Xi Jinping failed to attend a business forum in South Africa, where he was expected to deliver a speech defending China’s economy and its support for emerging markets, as fears mount that the Asian nation’s struggles could cause global turbulence.the Chinese leader was set to address the BRICS Business Forum on Tuesday,
Hours later, Mr Xi attended a dinner with the leaders of South Africa, Brazil and India, and Russia’s foreign minister, who are in Johannesburg for the annual BRICS summit of emerging market powers. “It’s clear that Xi Jinping places a higher priority on political issues, security issues, than he does on business and the economy,” said Mr Drew Thompson, a former Pentagon official and businessman in China who is now a senior fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. “So if he is in a position where he has to prioritize and skip one meeting, it would not surprise me that he favours the political and security topics over the economic ones.
The trip to South Africa gives Mr Xi an opportunity to court countries from the Global South, after a trilateral summit held by President Joe Biden with the leaders of South Korea and Japan last week left the Chinese leader looking increasingly isolated in his backyard. “We support substantive progress in the G20 and support South Africa employing a greater role,” Mr Xi said at a joint press conference in Pretoria, adding that China will continue to encourage its companies to invest and operate in South Africa.
While Chinese politicians do sometimes read out messages from Mr Xi at events – Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang delivered one at the China Development Forum in March, for example – normally that takes place when the Chinese leader isn’t physically in attendance.