Not ‘accusing’ Canada, says China, a day after Xi rebuked Trudeau
BEIJING: President Xi Jinping did not “accuse” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a short interaction in Bali on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday, a day after the Chinese leader was seen and heard confronting Trudeau over apparent information leaks from a bilateral meet.
An expert has described the incident of Xi rebuking Trudeau in public, in what was their first talks in over three years, as “highly offensive” and showing disdain for a foreign leader.
Canadian broadcasters published video footage on Wednesday, which showed the two leaders talking to each other on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali in Indonesia.
A translator for Xi can be heard in the video telling Trudeau that “everything we discussed was leaked to the paper(s), that’s not appropriate”.
“If there is sincerity, we can communicate well with mutual respect, otherwise the outcome will not be easy to tell,” Xi went on to tell Trudeau.
According to footage captured by Canada’s CTV news, Trudeau then said: “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, and we will have to...”
Interrupting Trudeau, Xi said “Let’s create the conditions first”.
Xi’s displeasure was said to be in context of media reports, which said Trudeau brought up “serious concerns” about alleged espionage and Chinese “interference” in Canadian elections during their meeting.
Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, former Canadian diplomat to China, Charles Burton, said he found Xi’s language to be “quite dismissive and threatening”, indicating China’s lack of respect for Canada.
“I just think in general, it was very unpleasant. I found it highly offensive on the part of his intent,” Burton said.