If we needed a symbol of division in today’s world, the summit of twenty of the world’s major economies, the G20, offers us one. Let us remember, the G20 has grown in importance in recent years because it has become the body that best represents global diversity, surpassing the UN Security Council, which was frozen in 1945 and whose veto power was abused.

But the G20, in turn, won by world fragmentation. The summit being held on Saturday and Sunday in New Delhi, under the Indian presidency, will be attended by two people who are largely absent. The first is of course Vladimir Putin, because there is an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, even though India is not a signatory to the ICC. Putin rarely travels anymore.

Another player absent is China’s number one Xi Jinping. And no matter how much I searched, I couldn’t find an official explanation for his absence. China will be represented by the Premier, Li Qang, so there will be no boycott; However, the absence of the leader of the country with the world’s second largest economy at the summit attended by Joe Biden, European leaders and large developing countries such as Brazil, is not trivial.

There are several possible explanations. The Indians, China’s arch rival, suspect the Chinese leader wants to hinder Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomatic success; Americans wonder if Xi Jinping specifically wants to avoid meeting Joe Biden, amid Sino-American tensions.

But what is most important is the fact that Xi Jinping was in Johannesburg two weeks ago to attend the summit of the BRICS, the club of developing countries dominated by China. The summit decided to expand the organization for the first time, from five to eleven members.

So would Xi Jinping choose to support the BRICS, where he is in a strong position, rather than the G20 where the war in Ukraine and his friendship with Russia risk causing problems? This will be a choice with serious consequences, with the option of a new alternative world order.

By prioritizing BRICS over multilateral organizations like the G20, China’s leadership would risk accelerating world fragmentation. This was of course the case before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it has become clearer in the last 18 months.

But BRICS still needs to offer an alternative to China. India, in particular, has no intention of letting China turn a Southern cooperation agency into an anti-Western spearhead. Despite its dramatic expansion in the last month, BRICS remains largely an empty shell. In Johannesburg, no decisions were taken regarding the ambitions of certain members to move towards de-dollarization of the world, the creation of a common currency.

The absence of China’s number one man in Delhi may just be a hiccup in a tense international climate. However, it casts a shadow over the peak which is one of the last bridges between hostile worlds.