China calls allegations of interference ‘nonsense’ after Xi Jinping-Trudeau exchanges – National

A tense exchange between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at this week’s G20 summit was triggered by leaked details of conversations between the two, China’s foreign ministry said Friday. rice field.

In a video released Wednesday by a Canadian broadcaster, Xi told Trudeau through an interpreter that “everything we discussed was leaked to the newspapers, so it’s not appropriate.”

Responding to questions on Friday, Ning said Trudeau approached Xi during Tuesday’s G20 welcoming ceremony and the two had a brief conversation.

“Shortly afterward, Reuters, citing a Canadian government official, said Trudeau had expressed serious concerns about so-called Chinese interference,” Mao said at a regular media briefing, referring to the conversation between the two that day. mentioned the report of

“The Chinese side has already lodged strong protests with the Canadian side, saying that arbitrarily leaking conversations between leaders is not in line with the common sense of high-level exchanges,” Mao added.

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The video captures rare and candid moments of Mr. Xi Jinping, curated by Chinese state media.

Prime Minister Trudeau responded to Xi’s criticism of the leak at the time by saying: we disagree. “

The incident was widely reported by foreign media, but not in China, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a transcript of a briefing released Thursday, where four questions related to the incident were asked, there was no reference to it. did not include

The exchanges between the leaders have come since the 2018 detention of a senior executive at Chinese tech giant Meng Wanzhou, followed by Beijing’s arrest of two Canadians on suspicion of espionage. underscored the escalating tensions between the two countries.

All three were later released.

Relations became strained again this month after Trudeau accused the Chinese government of “aggressively” interfering in Canada’s elections.

A spokesperson for Mao Zedong called the allegations “absolute nonsense” on Friday.

The exchange comes shortly after Global News reported that Canadian intelligence officials had warned Trudeau that China was allegedly targeting Canada in a massive campaign of foreign interference.

That campaign involved funding a secret network of at least 11 federal candidates running in the 2019 election, the official added.

— Reported by Eduardo Baptista. Edited by Robert Barthel. Using files from Global News.

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