Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping after taking part in the closing session at the G20 Leaders Summit in Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
BADUNG, Indonesia – Chinese President Xi Jinping confronted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday, accusing him of harming diplomatic relations by sharing details with the media about their meeting and then warning him in untranslated remarks there could be consequences for a lack of respect.
“Everything we discuss has been leaked to the paper; that’s not appropriate,” Xi told Trudeau through an interpreter who was with Xi when the pair met at an event during the G20 summit.
Media were able to record the brief conversation after a journalist spotted the two leaders speaking together from across the room and moved closer to capture the encounter on camera.
“That’s not how, the way the conversation was conducted. If there is sincerity on your part –” Xi continued, as relayed by the interpreter, at which point Trudeau interrupted.
Before the interpreter had started sharing that part of the remarks, however, Xi had gone on to say something in Mandarin that ended up not being translated into English for Trudeau to hear.
“We should have conservations in a respectful way,” Xi said in Mandarin.
“Otherwise, the results can’t be predicted.”
When Trudeau cut in, which was before that part of Xi’s message was translated, he said: “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.”
Through the interpreter, Xi responded: “Let’s create the conditions first.”
The two shook hands after the exchange, and Trudeau headed for an exit.
Trudeau had spoken with Xi on Tuesday, and the Prime Minister’s Office said afterward that he had raised concerns about Chinese “interference” in Canada.
The prime minister would not specify what type of interference, butthe comment follows claims of Beijing running de facto police stations in Canada, and of China reportedly meddling in the 2019 general election.
His office added Tuesday that the pair had also discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea and climate change, during a short meeting in a crowded room at the summit.
Trudeau would not say Wednesday whether he had agreed to keep that information private, and he chalked the incident up to different expectations of transparency.
“Canada trusts its citizens with information about the conversations that we have in their name as a government,” he told reporters in English.
“There’s a reality, that our systems are very different,” he added in French.
Trudeau repeated his government’s view that Canada can work with China on issues like biodiversity, but that the country represents a threat to global stability by undermining global norms spanning trade to human rights.
“I won’t shy away from being open with Canadians, even as we discuss important and sometimes delicate subjects,” Trudeau said in English.
He added it’s a matter of “getting the balance right between being open about disagreements and issues we raised, while being able to work constructively.”
In Ottawa, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said he was “pleased” that Trudeau “is standing up as he always does for Canada” and saying “that we won’t tolerate these type of things with respect to interference.”
Conservative MP Chris Warkentin, the deputy whip, said: “That was something, wasn’t it.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 16, 2022.
– With files from Nono Shen in Vancouver and Stephanie Taylor in Ottawa.
