Xi Jinping ‘not interested’ in being a bit player at the Queen’s funeral

Xi Jinping is expected to keep well away from Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Picture: AFP

Xi Jinping is expected to keep well away from the Queen’s funeral as China’s leader instead prepares to return to the international stage at a meeting with his “no limits” partner Vladimir Putin.

Beijing has not confirmed the President’s absence from Westminster Abbey next week, but experts said it was unlikely any of the seven members of the Chinese Communist Party’s powerful standing committee would go.

“Top Chinese leaders seldom attend the funerals of overseas leaders,” said Joseph Cheng, an expert on China’s foreign policy.

“Xi Jinping fully understands that even if he goes to London, he is not going to be a major figure attracting a lot of attention, so he is not interested,” Mr Cheng told The Australian.

China’s leader on Monday delegated condolence duties in Beijing, sending Vice-President Wang Qishan to British ambassador Caroline Wilson’s residence to sign a memorial book for the late Queen. US President Joe Biden personally signed a similar book at the UK’s Washington Embassy.

Many in Hong Kong, a former British colony, have lined for hours since the Queen’s death to sign a condolence book at the British consulate. Some carried Union Jack flags, other laid Paddington Bear toys, a few were accompanied by pet corgis.

“You will be remembered for your elegance and legacy: a once-free and civilised Hong Kong,” said one note left outside the British consulate.

Mr Cheng, who was a professor at the City University of Hong Kong and now lives in New Zealand, said the tributes recalled the young protesters carrying British flags during the huge marches in 2019. “It was a gesture saying even the colonial administration was better than today,” he said.

Behind the Chinese firewall, some on China’s internet were surprised by the proliferation of nostalgic articles about the Queen.

A commentator on the influential Phoenix news channel said many in China saw the Queen as a symbol of a less anxious, isolated and conflicted time. “I believe for the vast majority of netizens … it is not so much that they miss the Queen but that they miss the golden age of globalisation when Queen Elizabeth was on the throne,” the commenter wrote.

Chinese party state media has been dominated by coverage of Mr Xi’s trip to Central Asia, which will end his 970-day period of Covid-induced isolation behind China’s borders.

The trip begins on Wednesday in Kazakhstan, where he unveiled his signature Belt and Road infrastructure project in 2013. He will then travel to the Uzbek city of Samarkand, which on Thursday hosts the China-backed ­security grouping, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation.

On the sidelines of that regional summit – which will include Central Asian leaders, along with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — Mr Xi will meet Russia’s President.

It will be the first in-person meeting of China and Russia’s leaders since they signed a strategic pact in Beijing, days before Mr Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

Many world leaders who will gather at Westminster Abbey next week – including Mr Biden, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – have called without success for Beijing to condemn Moscow’s aggression.

Mr Xi is expected to use his meeting with Mr Putin to reaffirm the tightness of China’s strategic partnership with Russia.