(Bloomberg) — Chinese President Xi Jinping confronted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Group of 20 summit, accusing him of leaking details of a private meeting between the men — an unusually candid glimpse at Xi’s interactions with other world leaders.
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“Everything we discussed was leaked to the newspapers. That’s not appropriate and that’s not the way our conversation was conducted, right?” Xi told Trudeau through a translator. “If you are being sincere, we must communicate with mutual respect.”
“If not, I’m not so sure how it will turn out,” Xi added, in a line the translator didn’t say to Trudeau.
Trudeau responded: “In Canada, we believe in free and open and frank dialogue, and that is what we will continue to have. We will continue to look to work constructively together, but there will be things we will disagree on.”
Xi was dismissive, saying “let’s create the conditions first,” before shaking the Canadian prime minister’s hand and turning away.
The interaction was recorded by journalists accompanying Trudeau and posted to Twitter by a reporter for CTV National News.
Xi and Trudeau met Tuesday on the sidelines of the G-20. After the meeting, a report in Canada’s National Post, citing a government source, said that Trudeau had raised “serious concerns” with Xi over allegations of Chinese interference in Canada’s domestic affairs. Global News reported Nov. 7 that Canadian intelligence officials suspect China of meddling in the country’s 2019 election.
“Canada needs to be able to engage constructively and directly, while at the same time be there to challenge on human rights and values that matter to Canadians,” Trudeau told reporters later Wednesday.
“Not every conversation is going to be easy,” the prime minister added.
It was the first time Trudeau and Xi have met in more than three years. Ties between the countries soured after Canada detained Huawei Technologies Co. executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the US in 2018. Soon after, Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested in China and tried for spying.
The two men were released just after Meng was freed last year, even though Beijing denied a link between the episodes.
–With assistance from Lucille Liu and Sarah Zheng.
(Updates with details on translation in third paragraph. An earlier version corrected the name of CTV National News in sixth paragraph.)
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