
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin will be conspicuously absent as leaders of the BRICS bloc of emerging economies gather in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Sunday.
The countries are expected to deliberate on pressing global issues including trade tensions, conflicts in the Middle East, climate change, and artificial intelligence.
Xi’s absence, the first in his 12 years as president, is widely seen as a setback to the political weight of the summit.
Analysts say the Chinese leader may be seeking to avoid diplomatic friction with the United States after recent talks to ease trade tensions.
Others suggest internal geopolitical calculations, such as avoiding being overshadowed by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is being hosted with full honours in Brazil.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Marty Kaufmann
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.offthepress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.