Tense exchanges between Xi Jinping and Justin Trudeau at the G20

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia. The Canadian leader said at a press conference after their meeting that he discussed with the Chinese president “interventionChina in Canadian domestic affairs. “I mentioned the issue of interfering with our citizens, it is important to be able to dialogueon this issueThis was announced by Justin Trudeau at the end of the bilateral meeting.

Last week, Justin Trudeau already stated that China had indulged in “to aggressive gameswith Canadian democracies and institutions following the publication of a Canadian television reportGlobal newsreports on electoral interference in Canada, particularly during the 2019 Canadian federal election. China in Canada, specifically to control Chinese exiles or expatriates.

When asked about the progress of the meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning replied that he had no information to publish. However, thanks to a video posted on the channel’s Twitter account CTV:, the whole world could see a discussion between Xi Jinping and Justin Trudeau, during which the Chinese president expressed his displeasure with the Canadian prime minister. According to the President of China, Justin Trudeau allegedly disclosed the content of their private conversation to the press. In the video, we see that Xi Jinping, accompanied by his interpreter, announces:Everything we’ve discussed in the press is irrelevant“. He also added that “itthe conversation was not like this“, questioning the authenticity of the report of the meeting published in the press. Justin Trudeau then replied that he hoped that China and Canada.we will continue constructive discussions, even if we do not agree on everythingbefore Xi Jinping responded by saying that he “first they had to agree on the terms of discussion“.

This strain on the private aspect of diplomatic talks between Canada and China is unlikely to improve relations between the two countries, which have been strained for several years. In 2018, Canada arrested the daughter of Huawei founder Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States, which demanded her extradition. He was eventually stranded in Canada for three years before being able to return to China following a mutual prisoner exchange between Ottawa and Beijing. But the case has blurred the relations between the two countries for a long time.

At the same time, Canada is moving closer to the US position of systemic confrontation with China. In May 2022, Canada, for example, banned from its territory two major Chinese companies, ZTE and Huawei, which are considered by many Western countries to be companies that could be used by China to spy on American or European telecommunications.

However, it should be noted that this is not the first time when public diplomatic discussions cause tension between heads of state. After the documentary was released last May France 5:00 By revealing the phone conversations between Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Kremlin accused France of violating “diplomatic etiquette”.