Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and his wife Peng Liyuan disembark from their plane as they arrive at Ngurah Rai International airport in Denpasar on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on November 14, 2022. – The 17th Group of Twenty (G20) Heads of State and Government Summit will be held in Bali from 15 to 16 November 2022. (Photo by AJENG DINAR ULFIANA / POOL / AFP)
Chinese leader Xi Jinping confronted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Nov. 16, saying he shouldn’t have “leaked” details of their conversation to the media the day before.
A video of the two leaders’ brief interaction was captured by reporters on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
“Everything we discuss has been leaked to the paper; that’s not appropriate,” Xi told Trudeau through an interpreter.
“That’s not how, the way the conversation was conducted. If there is sincerity on your part…” Xi continued, finishing the sentence without translation, saying that “we will proceed with mutual respect, otherwise the result will be hard to say.”
Trudeau interrupted Xi at this time and highlighted the importance of a “free and open” dialogue.
“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,” Trudeau said.
“Let’s create the conditions first,” Xi responded through the interpreter.
The two leaders shook hands after the brief conversation and went separate ways.
Trudeau spoke to Xi on Nov. 15, and his office later said the Prime Minister had raised concerns about China’s interference in Canada, as well as media reports of unofficial Chinese police stations operating in Toronto.
The office said the pair had also spoken about North Korea’s missile launches, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the UN summit on biodiversity that China is hosting in Montreal next month.
Reacting to the development, David Mulroney, Canada’s former ambassador to China, said it was a “staged, public rebuke for the leader of a vassal state.”
Isaac Teo and The Canadian Press contributed to this report
