United States President Joe Biden criticised the absence of key world leaders at the G20 summit in Rome while giving his closing remarks. He said that it is “disappointing” that Russian and Chinese leaders “basically did not show up.”
Biden’s counterparts — Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping— were not present at the crucial diplomatic summit and are also not expected to attend the COP26 summit in Scotland’s Glasgow.
Other world leaders who were not present in Rome for the meeting were from Mexico and Japan. However, according to reports from CNN, low-level ministers were sent for the summit as diplomats.
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In a news conference on Sunday, the United States President spelled out his belief that all politics is personal and that what progress was achieved came from direct interactions with other leaders.
Biden said at the news conference, “They know me. I know them. We get things done together”, according to reports from Associated Press.
He added, “We have made significant progress and more has to be done. But it is going to require us to continue to focus on what Russia’s not doing, what China’s not doing, what Saudi Arabia’s not doing.”
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According to reports from CNN, the Russian and Chinese world leaders have cited the growing number of COVID-19 cases as their reason for not attending the diplomatic summits in Europe, which span over several days.
The number of infections have experienced a significant spike in the last months, with multiple records being broken almost every other day. Similarly, China has also recorded a surge.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has not left his country for 21 months, which is parallel with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, CNN reported that attending the G20 summit may have meant that Jinping would not be able to attend upcoming party meetings as he would be subject to quarantine requirements.
