It might be tempting to connect Xi Jinping’s refusal to attend the G20 summit in India with continuing border tensions. These reached a peak recently when China released an “official map” claiming as its territory several areas that have long been a matter of contention between the two countries.
But, in fact, a more likely explanation is the intense competition between Xi Jinping’s China and Narendra Modi’s India over leadership status when it comes to the global south.
The two countries have had a rocky relationship over the years, as seen in the sporadic military clashes in border areas. But it is the wider – and more recent – question of which country holds the most influence in the developing world that consumes the two leaders at present.
