“Everything we discussed was leaked. . . this is not appropriate,” the Chinese president told Justin Trudeau through his interpreter, according to a video of the incident posted online. Xi’s trip to Indonesia was only the second time he had ventured abroad since Covid-19 broke out in central China in January 2020. Since taking power a decade ago, even Xi’s private interactions with foreign leaders have been tightly regulated. Accounts of the president’s diplomatic meetings by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and state media are also carefully crafted, selectively editing the remarks of foreign leaders to emphasize their agreement with Xi on the most important issues on his agenda. In his angry exchange with Trudeau, Xi was referring to media reports about an earlier conversation at the G20 summit, which ended on Wednesday. After that first brief meeting, which was initiated by Trudeau in a group setting, Canadian and international media, citing people familiar with the exchange, reported that the prime minister had raised concerns about alleged Chinese interference in the Canadian election. “That’s not how the debate was conducted,” Xi added, accusing Trudeau of a lack of “candor.” “In Canada we believe in free, open and honest dialogue and we will continue to work constructively together,” replied Trudeau, who did not appear to be accompanied by aides or a translator. “But there will be things we disagree on.” Xi then ended the conversation with a sharp handshake and the two leaders turned away from each other. Recommended Aside from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s trip to Beijing this month, the G20 marked the first time since 2019 that Xi has interacted in person with Western leaders, who have been determined to drive a wedge between Russia and China. Xi refused to condemn Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. While Xi did not explicitly criticize Russia’s behavior in Ukraine at the G20, he used the event to try to mend long-strained relations with the US and many of its allies, with the prominent exceptions of Canada and India. Xi and US President Joe Biden met for more than three hours on Monday in their first face-to-face meeting since Biden became president. The leaders appeared to at least stabilize the two countries’ rocky relationship, with Beijing agreeing to resume communication on several issues that have been frozen since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August. Xi also had official G20 meetings with the leaders of France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia and South Korea, but not Trudeau. Beijing was angered by Ottawa’s detention of a prominent telecommunications executive in December 2018 at the request of Washington over alleged violations of US export sanctions. Xi’s government responded by detaining two Canadians, one of whom was a former diplomat, in a standoff that was not resolved until September 2021.
