UN chief Antonio Guterres to hold meeting with Xi Jinping, other Chinese leaders in Beijing
Feb 04, 2022
New York [US], February 5 : UN Associate Spokesperson Eri Kaneko said on Friday that the global body's Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet with the Chinese leadership in Beijing on Saturday during a lunch hosted by the country's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, reported Sputnik.
"The UN Secretary-General will attend the heads of state lunch hosted by President Xi Jinping. And he's also expected to meet with Chinese authorities as well as other leaders who are attending the Games," said Kaneko.
The UN chief arrived in Beijing on Thursday and participated in the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games which will be held till February 20.
Beijing Winter Olympics kicked off on Thursday at the Beijing National Stadium amid a diplomatic boycott by a number of countries including the US and the UK.
This is the second Olympics to be hosted during the pandemic -- but this time athletes are confined to a "closed-loop" far stricter than Tokyo 2020's bubble.
The build-up to the games was dominated by political tensions. It included the diplomatic boycott and severe criticism of China's human rights abuses.
