G20: Chinese President Xi Jinping may skip summit, premier Li Qiang likely to attend mega event

New Delhi: With a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Chinese President Xi Jinping's participation at the G20 Summit, China is exploring options to depute its premier Li Qiang for the mega event to be held here from September 8-10.

While most heads of governments and states of G20 members and invitees will be present for the summit, there is a cloud of uncertainty over Xi's visit here next week, it has been reliably learnt. Xi had last visited India in 2019 for the second edition of informal summit at Mamallapuram.

Li became the eighth premier of China in March 2023, having been elevated to the second-ranking member on the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Politburo Standing Committee in October 2022.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to depute foreign minister Sergey Lavrov for the summit like last year's G20 Summit. Similarly, the Mexican President is deputing his economy minister for the summit. Among the invitees, Oman's Sultan is deputing his deputy PM for the summit.

Meanwhile, India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 'standard map' of China that lays claim to India's territory. "We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 'standard map' of China that lays claim to India's territory. We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

China, ahead of the G20 Summit hosted by India, may have tried to muddy waters by officially releasing the 2023 edition of its 'standard map', which shows the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory.

Sources, who did not wish to be identified, asserted that China has a "habit" of releasing such maps and noted that merely including other countries' territories in its maps meant nothing. Such absurd claims do not change the situation on the ground and the Indian government is very clear about its territory, sources said.