Indonesia’s Widodo to meet Xi on rare China trip before G20

By KEN MORITSUGU33 minutes ago

FILE - Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, left, speaks to China's President Xi Jinping during a family photo session in front of Osaka Castle at the G-20 summit, on June 28, 2019, in Osaka, Japan. President Widodo was heading to Beijing on Monday, July 24, 2022, for a rare visit by a foreign leader under China's strict COVID-19 protocols and ahead of what could be the first overseas trip by Chinese President Xi since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago.(Tomohiro Ohsumi/Pool Photo via AP, File)

BEIJING (AP) — Indonesian President Joko Widodo was heading to Beijing on Monday for a rare visit by a foreign leader under China’s strict COVID-19 protocols and ahead of what could be the first overseas trip by Chinese President Xi Jinping since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago.

Widodo, host of the Group of 20 summit in mid-November, will meet Xi and Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday and then hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Wednesday and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Thursday.

China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia are all members of the G-20, a group of 19 major nations and the European Union.

Xi, who has participated in international meetings only by video link during the pandemic, may end his COVID-19 isolation and attend the G-20 in person, analysts both inside and outside China said.

“The restrictions during the pandemic years have shrunk China’s diplomatic activities,” said Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Studies of Nanjing University. “China must face reality. Although the pandemic is still not over, it is a must for China to walk out and invite in.”

His appearance would likely come after his widely expected appointment this fall to a third five-year term as the head of the ruling Communist Party, enabling him to engage with other world leaders from a position of domestic strength.