China’s Xi skips dinner with Putin, allies as COVID precaution: source
- Xi is attending the China-Russia SCO summit in Samarkand this week.
- His first foreign trip since the start of the pandemic.
- Sources say the Chinese delegation cited its own COVID-19 policy as the reason for Xi’s absence.
Samarkand: Chinese leader Xi Jinping stayed away from a regional security summit dinner attended by 11 heads of state in line with his delegation’s COVID-19 policy, an Uzbek government source said. Reuters on Friday.
Elevenwho is making his first foreign visit since the start of the pandemic, is attending this week’s meeting Shanghai Cooperation Organization led by China and Russia In the Uzbek city of Samarkand
However, they were missing from the group photos published late on Thursday, including the leaders Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, went to dinner.
An Uzbek government source confirmed Xi’s absence and said the Chinese delegation cited its own COVID-19 policy as the reason.
In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Xi, 69, is set to seek a historic third leadership term at the Communist Party Congress starting next month.