Sunak’s talks with Xi called off after confrontation over Trudeau ‘leak’
Prime Minister was set to meet Chinese leader on last day of G20 summit for face-to-face discussions
RISHI SUNAK’S talks with Xi Jinping were cancelled yesterday after the Chinese president was left infuriated at Justin Trudeau for “leaking” details of a closed-door meeting.
Mr Sunak would have been the first UK prime minister to hold face-to-face talks with Mr Xi in almost five years, in a move that had drawn criticism from some Tory hardliners on China. Downing Street said that the cancellation on the last day of the G20 summit in Bali was a result of changing diaries in the wake of a missile strike in Poland that prompted emergency consultations between Nato leaders.
They refused to say which side took the initiative to cancel the meeting, which was arranged at short notice and was not on either leader’s initial schedule for the summit. It came after Mr Xi was angered after details of his meeting with Mr Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, appeared in the media.
The two leaders met briefly on Tuesday for the first time in three years, when, according to reports, Mr Trudeau raised “serious concerns” over Chinese “interference activities” in Canada, including possible election tampering.
Within hours, details of the 10-minute conversation were credited to “a government source” and appeared on Agence France-presse, an international news agency.
Confronting Mr Trudeau at a reception yesterday morning, Mr Xi – in a rare and candid display of his negotiating style – said: “Everything we discussed has been leaked to the paper. That’s not appropriate. And that’s not the way the conversation was conducted.”
Mr Trudeau replied that “in Canada we believe in a free and open and frank dialogue, and I hope that is what we will continue to have”.
He added: “We will continue to work constructively together but there will be things that we disagree on.”
Mr Xi responded: “Let’s create the conditions first”, shook Mr Trudeau’s hand and left.
There was no suggestion whether the cancellation of the meeting with the British delegation was linked to Mr Xi’s irritation with the Canadian leak.
Mr Sunak had been due to see Mr Xi at around 3.30pm yesterday in Bali, around the same time the Prime Minister had a call with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, scheduled at the last minute.
Mr Sunak also had his bilateral meeting with Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, cancelled after an emergency gathering of the G7 world leaders plus those of Nato countries was called to discuss the Poland missile strike.
A Downing Street official said there was nothing “unusual” about the cancellation of the talks given the circumstances, saying it was “understandable”.
Mr Sunak had been pushing for the meeting – which was announced on Tuesday – for days.
Mr Xi went ahead with a meeting with Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, yesterday evening.
Ms Meloni’s office said the two discussed Ukraine and “agreed that every diplomatic initiative should be promoted to put an end to the conflict and avoid an escalation”.
The news of a Russian bombardment of missiles on Ukraine complicated Mr Xi’s position, and he spent the summit trying to put distance between Beijing and the Kremlin over the war without explicitly rejecting his “no limits” partnership with Mr Putin.