China's President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with Vietnam's President Vo Van Thuong (not pictured) at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on Dec 13, 2023. - AFP
BEIJING: President Xi Jinping publicly skipped half of a key annual economic meeting for the first time, as the Chinese leader continues to break Communist Party norms in his precedent-defying third term.
Xi travelled to Vietnam on Tuesday (Dec 12) for a two-day state visit that overlapped with the final leg of a meeting to set growth goals for 2024. That marked the first time China’s most-powerful leader since Mao Zedong had left his nation during the high-profile economic event since taking power, according to public records.
