Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed “serious concerns” about alleged Chinese interference in Canada in brief talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of this week’s Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Indonesia. The prime minister’s office said in a reading on Tuesday that the two leaders discussed North Korea and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Trudeau “also raising our serious concerns about interference in Canada.” Last week, Canadian media outlet Global News reported that Canadian intelligence officials had warned Trudeau that China was “targeting Canada with a massive campaign of foreign interference,” including by meddling in the country’s 2019 election. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) also arrested a man in the province of Quebec on Monday for espionage, accusing 35-year-old Yuesheng Wang of obtaining trade secrets for the benefit of the Chinese government. China’s embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a Reuters request to confirm the talks between Trudeau and Xi on Tuesday, or what was discussed. The China-Canada relationship has been frosty for several years, especially after the 2018 arrest of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou by Canadian authorities on a United States arrest warrant. China then arrested two Canadians on espionage charges. While the standoff ended when all three men were released last year, relations remained sour over several points of contention, including human rights and trade. In June, Canada accused China of harassing its aircraft on United Nations sanctions patrols near North Korea. The Chinese government responded by accusing the Canadian military of “provocations” and warned Canada that it could face “serious consequences.” In their talks on Tuesday, Trudeau and Xi “discussed the importance of continued dialogue,” a readout from Trudeau’s office said. The two leaders last met in June 2019 on the sidelines of another G20 in Osaka, Japan. They have met three other times in the past, once in 2015 on the sidelines of the G20 in Turkey and twice during official visits to Beijing in 2016 and 2017. “We’re talking about a relationship that’s been in deep freeze for years, so it’s not surprising that the first contact at the leader level would be informal,” said Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Trudeau and a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa. Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie also met with her Chinese counterpart on Tuesday and raised concerns about reports of interference in Canada’s internal affairs. “I’ve said it many times and I’ve said it to my counterpart: we will not accept any form of foreign government interference in our elections and we will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in Canada – period,” Jolie told reporters from the G20. “It’s not a conversation. It is unacceptable.”
