Why Xi Jinping skipped the UN after his Trump summit

Han Zheng, China’s vice-president, called on “major countries” to respect the sovereignty and security of Middle Eastern nations and bring about a two-state solution for the “Palestinian question” on Saturday at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in an implicit dig at the US and Israel.This came as some analysts questioned why Chinese President Xi Jinping opted not to address the global body given his three-day summit in Washington with US President Donald Trump this week – despite the short distance between New York and Washington, Beijing’s long-standing assertions on the UN’s importance and active campaign to build soft power and promote its global initiatives.“Many months ago, Chinese officials said that Xi wouldn’t go to the UN unless it was to mark a major anniversary,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “Seems like a missed opportunity.”Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has addressed the annual General Assembly gathering once in person, in 2015 for the 70th anniversary. He appeared by video in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic but missed the 80th anniversary last year when Premier Li Qiang spoke. In other years, China has generally been represented by other senior officials, including Han and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.China has also placed significantly more importance on Washington relations than on multilateral issues, analysts said.