Will China’s social distancing on world stage stand remote chance of success?

President Xi Jinping continues to attend summits by video link and during the pandemic has met very few foreign leaders in person

His country’s strict controls help to guard against Covid-19, but also complicate the face-to-face exchanges that allow countries to manage their differences

Reading Time:5 minutes

Published: 10:30pm, 28 Nov 2021Updated: 8:30am, 29 Nov 2021

When leaders of Group of 20 nations such as the US’ Joe Biden, France’s Emmanuel Macron and India’s Narendra Modi were seen hugging, taking selfies and chatting at their first in-person summit since the pandemic began, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to keep a safe distance.

Xi joined remotely from Beijing, and two days later was again seen via a screen, at the UN’s COP26 climate change summit, while more than 120 other national leaders showed up in Glasgow in person.

He had already set in motion a vital contribution to global climate efforts by announcing that his country – the world’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions – would achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, but Xi was the only world leader who delivered remarks to COP26 in writing.

“The fact that China is trying to assert, understandably, a new role in the world as a world leader – not showing up, come on,” Biden said in Glasgow.

Just as the Covid-19 pandemic has turned so many other things upside down, in-person interactions with the Chinese leader and many of the country’s officials have become rare.

Observers have said that the trend could leave more questions unanswered about Beijing’s ambitions, especially given that there are widespread negative views of its actions on the global stage.

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