(Beijing) Xi Jinping held a banquet for visiting foreign leaders for the Olympics in Beijing on Saturday, as the Chinese president embarks on a diplomatic marathon after two years without guests due to COVID-19.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Before Friday’s one-on-one with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the strong man from Beijing mainly exchanged by videoconference with the other leaders of the planet.
Xi Jinping has not left his country for more than two years and his last known meeting with a foreign leader dates back to March 2020 when the President of Pakistan visited China.
On the occasion of the Beijing Winter Olympics (February 4-20), around twenty leaders made the trip to China.
At midday, they were received by Xi Jinping for a banquet in their honor at the imposing People’s Hall on the edge of Tiananmen Square, state media reported.
Official images show the tables of the guests arranged in a gigantic rectangle. In its center are flowers and a model of the Olympic venues.
Crystal chandeliers and red lanterns overlook a huge reception hall, in which an orchestra is present.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were among the guests, along with a handful of European and Asia-Pacific leaders.
Several Western countries, led by the United States, have decided to snub the Beijing Olympics to denounce human rights violations in China, particularly in the Xinjiang region (Northwest) where the Uyghur Muslim minority lives.
Without claiming a boycott, many countries have also invoked the pandemic not to send a head of state to Beijing.
In the absence of Western headliners, Chinese power is making up for it with a list of friendly leaders, some of whom are in trouble with Washington or human rights.
The Chinese president thus notably spoke face-to-face on Saturday with his counterpart from Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, according to public television CCTV.
This Central Asian country bordering China experienced bloody riots in early January, repressed with the help of Moscow and the approval of Beijing.