Xi Jinping surprisingly skips a speech at the BRICS forum: mystery as to why

2023-08-23 09:43:20

Surprisingly yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping did not participate in an important multilateral economic forum of the BRICS summit underway in South Africa where he was supposed to deliver a speech. In his place was sent the Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, who – reading the speech that the Chinese President should have made – denounced American hegemony, without directly mentioning the United States. “Some countries, obsessed with maintaining their hegemony, have done everything to paralyze emerging markets and developing countries,” says the statement, which then urges the world to avoid plunging “into the abyss of a new cold war “.

Xi was the only leader attending the summit who did not attend the forum. He arrived in Johannesburg on Monday and was due to address the business forum on Tuesday afternoon alongside the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa. But the Chinese leader did not show up for the event, with no official announcement or explanation from Beijing. Some Chinese observers have speculated that Xi was temporarily ill, but an explanation is unlikely to be given.

Even Russian President Vladimir Putin, remotely, gave a speech, in which he asked the partners of the BRICS group to cooperate at the same level and explained that talks with African countries for the free offer of wheat are almost concluded. Russia remains and will be a reliable food supplier for Africa, he said. The BRICS group, he continued, is on track to meet the aspirations of the majority of the world’s population.

“We cooperate according to the principles of equality, support of partnership, respect for mutual interests, and this is the essence of the future-oriented strategic path of our association. A path that meets the aspirations of the main part of the world community, the so-called global majority “, he has declared. Members of the BRICS countries currently represent more than 40 percent of the world’s population.

Putin also recalled that Russia is one of the five most economically powerful countries in the world, despite the “pessimistic outlook” of Western experts. Moscow has seen more than 6% growth and a three-year increase in its economy, Putin added, admitting volatility in financial, energy and other markets, and that state and private debts are on the rise.