Chinese President Xi Jinping unexpectedly pulled out of delivering a speech at the BRICS summit in South Africa – leading to speculation he might be unwell.
The Chinese leader was in Johannesburg for the business forum but asked his commerce minister Wang Wentao to deliver the remarks instead.
The unusual move has sparked speculation that something was “amiss” but it is unlikely the Chinese government will provide an explanation.
Image: Chinese President Xi Jinping, second from left, with other world leaders at the BRICS summit. Pic: AP
The president’s speech brought an air of confrontation to the summit in Johannesburg.
In a thinly-veiled swipe at the United States, Mr Wang said “some country, obsessed with maintaining its hegemony, has gone out of its way to cripple the emerging markets and developing countries”.
“Whoever is developing fast becomes its target of containment. Whoever is catching up, becomes its target of obstructions.”
The remarks are another development in the growing friction between the US and China – with Mr Xi having earlier blamed the West for the difficulties faced by his country’s economy.
Mr Xi had met with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday before he pulled out of delivering his speech.
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Bill Bishop, author of Sinocism, a popular newsletter about Chinese affairs, highlighted how there had already been a long period this month with Mr Xi not making any public appearances.
Mr Bishop said this seemed “a bit strange”.
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He added: “This last-minute decision to skip the business forum looks even stranger. So in the absence of any useful information from the PRC [People’s Republic of China] system rumours will fly.”
Image: Wang Wentao reads out Xi Jinping’s speech. Pic: AP
Image: Xi Jinping receives the order of South Africa from President Cyril Ramaphosa at the summit. Pic: AP
The China Global South Project, a podcast exploring the country’s involvement in Africa, wrote: “To say [Xi’s absence] is extraordinary is an understatement as Chinese leaders never miss highly choreographed events like this.”
Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific Programme at the German Marshall Fund, wondered if his absence meant something was “amiss”.
James Palmer, deputy editor of Foreign Policy magazine, wrote: “The odds are very heavily that Xi Jinping just skipped that speech because he’s sick.”
The BRICS group of countries is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Mr Xi was scheduled to join Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr Ramaphosa for dinner at a luxury estate in suburban Johannesburg on Tuesday.
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Mr Putin planned to take part in the dinner virtually, officials said.
The Russian president gave a 17-minute prerecorded speech, criticising the impact of sanctions and indirectly accused the West by criticising the “trampling of all rules of free trade and economic life which we thought to be immovable before”.
The leaders were expected to discuss the top agenda point for the three-day summit – a possible expansion of the BRICS group of nations.
The group aims to be a counterweight to Western economic and geopolitical dominance.
The five BRICS countries are home to 40% of the world’s population and responsible for more than 30% of global economic output, and more than 20 nations have applied to join, according to South African officials, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
The city of Hangzhou is one of the most historic and beautiful in China.
But this ancient place now has the most modern of reputations, as China’s ‘Silicon Valley’.
A vibrant hub for entrepreneurs and high-tech start-ups, Hangzhou is home to headline-grabbing success stories like Alibaba and breakthrough AI firm, DeepSeek.
Those who are part of the tech scene here brim with enthusiasm.
Image: Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, has been labelled ‘China’s Silicon Valley’
Over coffee, in an ultra-modern city complex, they describe how exciting this moment feels, not just for their businesses, but for China too.
“We have the talents, we have the environment, and we have the full supply chain, even though we have a challenging environment,” says Grace Zheng, who has worked at the AI glasses creator Looktech since its inception.
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“It’s our time.”
The others laugh and nod. “I agree with it,” says Jia Dou, whose company Wuli Coffee, creates high-tech, automated commercial coffee machines. “And I think it’s our time to show and battle with other foreign countries.”
Image: Grace Zheng is enthusiastic about the future for China
And is that a battle China could now win, I ask? “Of course,” comes the answer.
They tell stories of how estate agents in Hangzhou dedicated hours of their time for free to find the perfect laboratory space, and how the local government showered them in grants and incentives; so hungry is this city for tech success.
Image: These entrepreneurs in Hangzhou say the city supports a vibrant hub of tech start-ups
“Hangzhou says we’ll provide the sunshine and the water, you go ahead and grow,” explains Zhang Jie.
She is the convenor of this group. An entrepreneur herself and the founder of a thriving ‘incubator’ for start-ups, she has invested in and mentored all the others around the table.
She is passionate, energetic and has a second-to-none understanding of what makes Hangzhou and China’s tech scene so successful.
“In China, we have more than 10 million university and college students graduating. Then we’re talking about at least five to six million engineers with college education background,” she says.
“So with such a large group of young and intelligent people with a good environment, a favourable environment for entrepreneurship, I’m sure there will be even greater companies coming in the future.”
Image: Zhang Jie helps start-ups in Hangzhou, where she says entrepreneurship is able to thrive
Indeed, a combination of light-touch local regulation, (unusual in China more broadly), coupled with one of the most business-oriented and free-thinking universities in the country, Zhejiang University, is viewed by many as the secret sauce in Hangzhou.
Zhang says she has had more young people approach her with business ideas in the last quarter than at any other time before, and she is full of optimism about the current wave.
“They are already companies [in China that will] probably be greater than Apple, right?” She laughs.
And she may well be right.
But there is one name in particular, born and bred in Hangzhou, that has captured the world’s attention in recent months.
When DeepSeek unveiled its latest open-source AI model earlier this year, it stunned the world, claiming to be as good as western competitors for a fraction of the price.
Image: The Hangzhou HQ of DeepSeek, which has stunned the world with its recent AI advances
Many are now talking about the ‘DeepSeek moment’, a moment that turbocharged confidence within China and made the rest of the world sit up and take notice.
Indeed, successes like this are being lauded by China’s leaders. In February, tech bosses, including DeepSeek’s founder Liang Wenfeng, were invited to a symposium with Xi Jinping and his top team.
Photo ops and handshakes with the president, an abrupt change from the crackdown they faced just a few years ago. In fact, tech is now being positioned as a key pillar in China’s future economy, repeatedly highlighted in official communications.
But what is seen as inspiring innovation in China is viewed by the United States as a threat.
Businesses in Hangzhou are of course aware of the trade war unfolding around them, many who export to America will take a significant hit, but most think they can cope.
Dr Song Ning is one of them. He proudly shows us his factory, which is integrated with the lab work and R&D side of his business.
His company, Diagens, uses AI to massively speed up medical diagnostics, cutting the time taken to run a chromosomal screening from 30 days to 4. He is also working on a chatbot called WiseDiag which has more advanced medical understanding and can be used by patients.
Image: This lab at the firm Diagens is using AI to speed up medical diagnostics
While they are actively seeking business in over 35 foreign countries, for now, the pursuit of American customers is on pause.
“Competition is a good thing… it makes us all stronger,” he says.
Image: Dr Song Ning believes Donald Trump’s policies will not be able to impede innovation
“I do not think by limiting the scientific and technological progress of China or other countries, Trump will be able to achieve his goal, I think it is a false premise.
“Information is so developed now, each country has very smart people, it will only force us to have more tech innovation.”
While individuals remain defiant, the trade war will still leave a big hole in China’s economy. Tech firms, however advanced, can’t yet fill that gap.
But the innovation here is rapid, and there is no doubt, it will leave its mark on the world.
Mourners will be able to view the body of Pope Francis lying in state in St Peter’s Basilica from Wednesday, ahead of his funeral this weekend.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to travel to the Vatican over the next three days to pay their respects to the pontiff, who died on Easter Monday at the age of 88.
After his funeral on Saturday morning (9am UK time) there will be a nine-day period of mourning, known as the “novendiali”, after which the secretive meeting – called the conclave – will begin to elect a new pope.
The conclave to choose his successor must start between 5 and 10 May.
The first images of his body were released on Tuesday, showing him in red vestments and his bishop’s mitre in a wooden casket.
Image: The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, standing over the body of Pope Francis. Pic: Reuters
The Vatican secretary of state was shown praying over him in the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta hotel where he lived and died.
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Previous popes were entombed in three coffins: the first made of wood, another of lead and a third, again made of wood. But in 2024, Francis changed the rules and said that only one coffin, a wooden one lined in zinc, should be used.
In a break from tradition, he will be buried in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major), according to his wishes.
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1:52
3D map shows pope’s funeral route
Following the pope’s death, from a stroke and heart failure, world leaders have praised his moral leadership and compassion.
On Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer described him as “a quite remarkable man, and the work and commitment that he put into fairness over so many years, and globally, I think will be a real lasting legacy”.
Francis leaves behind a more inclusive but also divided Catholic Church
by Barbara Serra, Sky News presenter in Rome
An institution like the Catholic Church, which is more than 2,000 years old and has changed leadership 266 times, is well-versed in managing transition.
But while the steps that follow a pope’s death may be strictly dictated by tradition, the mood is often very different, depending on the pope that is being replaced.
The word Catholic means universal, and it’s a good reminder of the challenge facing any pope – leading a congregation 1.4 billion strong from all over the world, with differing ideas about if and how change should happen, is far from easy.
The global demographics of Catholicism are changing rapidly. Pope Francis was keenly aware of this.
We often talk about him as progressive, but a more accurate term to describe his papacy would be “inclusive”.
Huge numbers have attended the funerals of Pope Francis’s predecessors.
In 2023, around 50,000 people attended the funeral of Benedict XVI, according to the Washington Post. In 2005, around 300,000 went to the funeral of John Paul II.
After voting sessions, the ballots are burned in a special stove. Black smoke indicates that no pope has been elected, while white smoke indicates that the cardinals have chosen the next head of the Catholic Church.
An urgent transfer to the Gemelli hospital, where he was treated for pneumonia earlier this year, was among the options considered.
A request for an urgent escort from the Vatican was received by Rome police after 7am, sources there said, but, given how quickly his condition worsened, it was cancelled by Vatican officials before 7.35am.
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First images of pope’s casket
The Vatican said he died from a stroke that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure.
He is currently lying in state in the Santa Marta Domus in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household.
Francis will be laid to rest Saturday, the Vatican announced on Tuesday, after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects.
The funeral will take place outside, in the square in front of St Peter’s Basilica, and will start with a procession led by a priest carrying a cross, followed by the coffin and ordained clergy.
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‘Many were in tears, I was in tears’
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, will lead the service. Nine days of mourning begin afterwards.
Unlike his predecessors, Francis will be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major), as per his final burial wishes, announced on Monday.
The basilica is dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, and is where Francis traditionally went to pray before and after foreign trips.
He will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century.
In another change from tradition, he will be buried in a simple wooden casket, forgoing the centuries-old practice of burying the late pope in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead, and oak.
Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff, had suffered from a chronic lung disease and had part of a lung removed as a young man.
Health issues plagued him throughout his later life, and he was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on 14 February for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He stayed at the hospital for 38 days before being released.