Xi Skips Speech To Defend Chinese Economy At BRICS Business Forum
President Xi Jinping had failed to attend a South African business forum where he was anticipated to deliver a speech to defend China’s economy and its support for the emerging markets, as the troubles of the nation have stirred a fear of global economic turbulence.
Instead of the President, the Commerce Minister, Wang Wentao, greeted the delegates on stage. Wentao read the entire speech without giving a fair explanation of why President Xi could not show up.
“The Chinese economy has strong resilience, tremendous potential and great vitality. The fundamentals sustaining China’s long-term growth will remain unchanged,”
Wang commented in his speech.
“The giant ship of the Chinese economy will continue to cleave waves and sail ahead.”
After hours, Xi attended a dinner with the South African leaders, along with leaders from India and Brazil, and the Foreign Minister of Russia, who had gathered in Johannesburg for the annual summit of BRICS for the 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,”
Drew Thompson, the former Pentagon official and China based businessman, who at present is the senior fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore said.
“So if he is in a position where he has to prioritize and skip one meeting, it would not surprise me that he favors the political and security topics over the economic ones.”
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