Chinese President Xi Jinping is skipping this week’s summit.

Instead, Premier Li Qiang will signify China on the two-day gathering.

Here, Al Jazeera’s Bays explains what Xi’s absence means.

“I think it is pretty significant that he is not coming. The G20 has met at summit level – in other words at a leader level, as they are the ones at the top of the political mountain – since 2008,” Bays mentioned.

“Other leaders have skipped the gathering, however the Chinese president has all the time attended. Until now.

“Xi was a central figure at the BRICS summit last month – and many will see this as a symbol of how the world is, right now, more divided than ever,” he added.

Bays additionally mentioned in New Delhi there would have been a possibility for Xi and United States President Joe Biden to “meet, speak, and build trust”.

“Now that won’t happen, their next possible meeting will be when the US hosts the APEC summit in San Francisco in November. But China has not yet given any indication whether Xi will attend,” he defined.