Chinese leader Xi Jinping stayed away from a dinner attended by 11 heads of states at a regional security summit in Uzbekistan. He is attending a meeting this week of the China- and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. He was absent from group photographs published late on Thursday when the leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, went for dinner. An Uzbek government source confirmed Xi’s absence and said the Chinese delegation cited its COVID-19 policy as the reason.Read Long Article
