In a video that has gone viral reflecting their poor bilateral relations, the Chinese president warns the Canadian prime minister that it will be difficult to communicate if he does not show respect
From the meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping to the crisis over Poland’s missing missile that sparked fears of World War III, the G-20 summit has left behind a fine album of moments for history. For unusual and revealing, one is the anger that Chinese President, Xi Jinping, threw at Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, at the end of one of the meetings.
The video, captured by Canada’s joint media team (“pool”), captures a unique moment and generally off-limits to the general public: the private conversation between two leaders and, above all, Xi’s anger. In the recording, barely a minute long and translated into English by his interpreter, Chinese President Trudeau laments that “everything we talk about has been leaked to the media. It’s not appropriate.”
With a half-smile that can’t hide his anger or condescension towards the young Canadian prime minister, he also berates him that “this wasn’t the conversation we had,” suggesting that the leak didn’t match reality. He opens his arms to Trudeau to emphasize his words and warns him that “if we are sincere and honest, we must respect each other to communicate. Otherwise it will be very difficult.”
Trudeau, visibly embarrassed, replies that “in Canada we believe in free, open and honest dialogue” and that he is confident they will “continue to work together constructively, but there will be issues on which we disagree”. Xi, who has turned his head from side to side without looking directly at Trudeau and seems to lose his temper listening to the translator, interrupts.
He raises his hands to settle the matter and replies, “Let’s create the conditions first.” And then, smiling, he shakes her hand and leaves, not giving her a chance to respond. Trudeau, for his part, hesitates for a few seconds and, swaying a little as if he doesn’t know where to go, heads in the opposite direction for an exit.
This reading, full of tension, reflects the bad relations between China and Canada, which have not yet closed the “Meng Wanzhou case” because of her injuries, the “heiress” of Huawei who was arrested at Vancouver airport in December 2018 for allegedly circumvention of US sanctions against Iran.
Following his arrest in Canada by order of a New York court investigating Huawei’s sales to Iran, the Chinese regime arrested two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, charging them with espionage and sentenced the former to 11 years in prison . In true Cold War style, he finally traded them in September last year for Meng Wanzhou, who returned to China a hero.
In addition to that incident and Xi’s condescension towards the young Trudeau, Beijing and Ottawa remain openly hostile despite Vancouver being one of the cities with the largest Chinese community in the world. Or precisely because of this, since Canadian intelligence itself has alerted Trudeau to the increasing Chinese interference in the country.
That complaint, which the prime minister conveyed to Xi Jinping during their meeting, was exactly what was leaked to the press, which enraged him. Paradoxically, the Chinese president’s anger at the lack of privacy during his meeting with Trudeau was caught on camera and eventually went viral.
Source: La Verdad
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