Xi Jinping to miss the crucial BRICS Summit; Putin will address the summit via video conferencing.
'Brics' is a vital platform for cooperation among emerging economies to create an equitable and balanced multipolar order, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said before he embarked on a five-nation tour to participate in the Brics Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The occasion is also seen as Modi's outreach attempts for a closer ties with key players in the Global South.
The whispering about Chinese President Xi Jinping's absence have ranged from the mundane to the incredible—from being upstaged by political opponents to suffering from an ailment.
According to Chinese media, "In a reply letter to friendly personages from all walks of life in Brazil, President Xi encouraged them to continuously contribute to the China-Brazil friendship.
"Xi said that he is glad to see that the China-Brazil friendship has been passed on from generation to generation, adding that over the past 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China and Brazil have marched forward hand in hand, sharing weal and woe, and have forged a friendship spanning mountains and oceans," the publication says.
At the BRICS Summit 2025, China officially said it will be represented by premier Li Qiang.
Xi’s absence is quite out of the blue because the 11-membered BRICS grouping of emerging economies that includes India, China, Russia, Iran and seven other countries, is often seen as a platform for the fast-rising China-Russia-Iran axis against the US-led West.
The summit in Brazil is expected to take a strident stand against the ‘unilateral tariff’ being imposed by the US, on grounds of it violating international laws.
All eyes will be on host Brazil, South Africa and also India.
Not long ago, US President Donald Trump has stated: “BRICS was set up for a bad purpose… BRICS is now dead”.
The strategic position of BRICS includes a move for de-dollarisation as a counter to the dominance of the US dollar, by working towards a new currency of exchange besides the creation of a more equitable global order—with multi-polarity as its main mantra.
“We require a commitment from these (BRICS) countries that they will neither create a BRICS currency nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or they will face 100 per cent tariffs,” Trump had said.
Notably, Russian President Vladimir Putin will also not attend.
But his absence has been explained as not wanting to put the host Brazil in a delicate diplomatic spot.
Putin will address the summit via video conferencing.
Brazil—an original member of The Hague-headquartered International Criminal Court (ICC)—would be rule-bound to detain Putin on arrival due to the arrest warrant issued against the Russian President on March 17, 2023. The ICC had issued the warrant after an investigation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
The Chinese President's public appearances have also been reduced—his last interaction with a foreign dignitary in Beijing may well have been a meeting with Singaporean PM Lawrence Wong on June 24.
On June 20, Xi met New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon.
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