By The South Asia Times

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend the G-20 meeting in India, scheduled in New Delhi on 9-10 September, Beijing announced on Monday.

“At the invitation of the government of the Republic of India, Premier of the State Council Li Qiang will attend the 18th G20 Summit to be held in New Delhi, India on September 9 and 10,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning in a statement.

The absence of Xi from the major event is shocking news for New Delhi as the world's two key leaders Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to India.

Last month, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov  said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not personally attend the G20 summit to be held in New Delhi, citing his busy schedule and ongoing military operation Ukraine.

Tension between China and India grew over border dispute as recently during BRICS summit in South Africa, Xi neglected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the Chinese leader's contact with Modi was limited to a few minutes.

Earlier, it was reported that XI and Biden could also meet at the sideline of the summit in New Delhi to ease the ongoing tension between Beijing and Washington.

On Sunday, President Biden said that he was “disappointed” by the Chinese counterpart's decision to skip the summit as Biden already confirmed to travel to India for the summit.

"I am disappointed... but I am going to get to see him," BBC quoted Mr Biden told reporters.

The latest development came after New Delhi lodged last week a protest over a map released by Beijing claiming the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin Plateau as their territory.