Beijing –

Although Chinese President Xi Jinping has decided not to attend the G20 summit in India this week, Beijing has said relations between the two Asian nuclear weapons giants “remain broadly stable”.

China announced on Monday that Premier Li Qiang, who will take office this spring, will represent China at a meeting to be held in New Delhi on Sept. 9-10.

Relations between China and India are still cold due to a border dispute that led to clashes three years ago that killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers. The confrontation turned into a long-term clash in a rugged mountainous region, with each side deploying tens of thousands of troops backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets.

Without specifying the dispute or the reasons for Xi’s decision not to attend, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said Chinese leaders “still support India as the host of the summit. of this year and are ready to work with all parties to make the G20 Summit a success”.

“At present, China-India relations remain generally stable, and dialogue and communication are maintained at all levels,” Mao told reporters at a daily press briefing.

“We are ready to cooperate with the Indian side to promote greater and lasting development of China-India relations,” he added.

Disagreements have also emerged between the two countries over trade, technology, investment and the growing strategic relationship between India and the United States, China’s main rival. India and China expelled journalists from other countries, and the once abundant educational exchanges came to an end.

India recently overtook China as the world’s most populous country, and the two countries compete in computing, steelmaking, space exploration and other high-tech fields. .

In an effort to reduce the possibility of future clashes, Chinese and Indian military leaders met last month and pledged to “maintain peace and tranquility” along the Line of Effective Control, which separates controlled territories by China and India from Ladakh in the west to India. . . The eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, claimed in its entirety by China.

By not attending the G20 summit, Xi Jinping missed an opportunity to interact with President Joe Biden at a time when relations between the two countries were at historic lows. China also appears to be hinting that Xi will not attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting in San Francisco in November.