CHINA/CANADA: China’s Xi Jinping was recently filmed during a subtle tiff with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, accusing the latter of leaking confidential meeting details, days after they engaged in diplomatic talks at the G20 Bali summit.
President Xi told the Canadian PM, via a translator, that this was inappropriate and accused him of lacking “sincerity.”
He was most likely, referring to reports that suggest Trudeau discussed alleged Chinese espionage and involvement in the Canadian elections at the sit-down conference.
The pair were engaged in diplomatic talks behind closed doors for the first time in years.
The video footage from the 2022 Bali Summit, which has now gained traction worldwide, shows the two world leaders standing face-to-face and conversing via a translator.
The footage, which shows a slightly distressed President Xi, whose image has always been meticulously curated by the Chinese state media, attests to the fact that Trudeau was met with accusations of leaking private details to the media.
Speaking through a translator, the Chinese leader told Trudeau: “Everything we discussed has been leaked to the papers, and that is not appropriate.”
In a strategic and diplomatic response, Trudeau smiled and nodded his head and said, “In Canada, we believe in free, 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 disagree on,” he added.
Before Trudeau could finish his point, Xi was seen cutting off his counterpart by saying that bilateral ties must first “create the conditions,” eventually shaking the Canadian PM’s hand and walking off.
The subtle tiff between the two world leaders follows the mounting tensions between the two countries as Canada detained Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018, followed by Beijing’s subsequent arrest of two alleged Canadian spies.
Moreover, another public utility worker is at Hydro-Québec. Yuesheng Wang was recently charged with espionage.
Wang “obtained trade secrets to benefit the People’s Republic of China, to the detriment of Canada’s economic interests,” Canadian police said in a statement.
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