WSJ: Xi Jinping fell ill before meeting with Trump

The state of health of Chinese President Xi Jinping has caused concern ahead of his visit to Washington after the Chinese leader missed a dinner at the BRICS summit in India. It is reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.

According to them, earlier this month, Xi missed a dinner with the participation of world leaders in New Delhi due to poor health — the Chinese president " at the last minute" refused to participate in the event. Instead, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the dinner.

The largest Indian Press Trust agency, citing sources, claimed that Xi Jinping " returned to his hotel room to rest".

However, the interlocutors of the WSJ claim that the chairman of the PRC did not feel well.

The absence of Xi Jinping at the dinner provoked questions about how healthy the 73-year-old Chinese leader is and whether Beijing is ready to reveal anything about his condition ahead of a trip to the United States, writes WSJ. At the same time, there is no evidence that the Chinese president is seriously ill, the newspaper notes.

The BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi September 12-13. As reported by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the member countries of the association unanimously adopted the New Delhi Declaration. In 2027, China will assume the role of the chair country in the association.

Jinping's official visit to Washington will begin on September 24 — this will be the first trip of the Chinese leader to the United States in more than 10 years. It is expected that at the summit he and US President Donald Trump will discuss, in particular, issues of artificial intelligence, Iran, Taiwan and trade.

As the WSJ notes, if Xi refuses the summit, it will " cause a shock". At the same time, people familiar with the situation clarified that the visit is still in force, and this weekend Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are due to meet, where they will discuss the upcoming summit.

The newspaper clarified that in the last couple of years there have been several episodes that have raised questions about Xi's condition, but none of this " is not a diagnosis".

The British edition of Express previously wrote about suspicions about Xi Jinping's health. As noted by the publication, Indian Prime Minister Modi at the BRICS summit was forced to interrupt his opening speech when assistants ran up to Xi, RBC clarifies.

Later, the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reported that he temporarily stopped participating in public events because he fell ill after returning from the BRICS summit. Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwegna said that the leader " did not feel well ".

In turn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India refuted allegations about the poor health of several world leaders after the New Delhi BRICS Summit.

" Fake alarm! We warn against such malicious publications on social networks!" the agency said in a statement on the social network X.