Image: ALET PRETORIUS (APA/AFP/POOL/ALET PRETORIUS)
According to the official program, the Chinese head of state and party should have spoken at the BRICS economic forum on Tuesday. Instead, Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao stepped forward and delivered the President’s speech.
Later, at the heads of state and government dinner, Xi attended. Xi Jinping was again seen at the summit on Wednesday morning. He entered the conference center early on the second day of the meeting.
There was no explanation from Beijing as to why Xi Jinping did not appear at the economic forum. Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for Beijing’s Foreign Ministry, insisted that the Chinese president delivered a speech at a daily news conference on Wednesday. The speaker then reproduced the content.
Another spokeswoman for the Beijing Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, quoted from Xi Jinping’s speech on Twitter. Chinese state media initially gave the impression that the President had spoken personally.
In the speech delivered by the Minister of Commerce, Xi Jinping criticized the United States without naming the country. “There is a country that wants to maintain its hegemony and has done everything to paralyze the emerging and developing countries,” the speech said. “Those who develop quickly will be contained by them. Those who catch up will be hindered.”
Source: Nachrichten
