Xi Jinping set to welcome world leaders to China as delayed World University Games start
- Indonesian President Joko Widodo will be one of the most high-profile visitors attending the event in Chengdu
- The event will begin on Friday having twice been postponed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic
The Chinese foreign ministry said Xi would hold welcoming banquets and “related bilateral events” for the visitors, who also include the presidents of Mauritania, Burundi and Guyana, as well as the prime ministers of Georgia and Fiji.
The games will take place amid tight security and the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced 20 days of “special action” starting last week to regulate online information about the event.
The internet watchdog said it wanted to target “one-sided and distorted” information, “malicious speculation on negative topics involving university students”, content that was discriminatory or might incite “group antagonism” and the “fictional filming of local ‘poverty’”.
Chen Wenqing, the Communist Party’s security chief, visited Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, last month and urged the city to improve internal security and work with neighbouring provinces.
