Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian President Justin Trudeau had a heated exchange at the G20 Summit in Bali. Xi accused Trudeau of leaking details of a private meeting between the two leaders to the media. Trudeau held his ground and said that Canada believes in free and open dialogue. The interaction was recorded on camera by reporters.
The Chinese president addressed Trudeau in Mandarin, which was translated by his translator.
“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, with a smile with the displeasure apparent on his face.
Trudeau replied calmly, “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 listened to him but looked impatient. “That’s great, the conditions first,” he said, as translated by his translator.
The duo then shook hands and walked away.
The leaders met on Tuesday on the sidelines of the G20 summit, after which Canadian media cited government sources to report that Trudeau had raised ‘serious concerns’ with Xi over the allegations of Chinese interference in Canada’s domestic elections.
Trudeau and Xi met for the first time in more than three years. The ties between the countries soured over the arrest of Huawei Technologies CFO Meng Wanzhou at US’ request, following which two Canadians were arrested for spying in China. The men were released after Wanzhou was released.
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