On the morning of August 19, Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, To Lam, to Beijing. There was nothing special about this meeting, but it attracted special attention from the outside world. This is because Xi Jinping has not appeared in public for three weeks since he met with East Timor President José Ramos-Horta and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on July 29. This has broken his record for the longest period of “invisibility.” During this period, China’s official media did not provide any particular explanation.
