Chinese President Xi Jinping scolds Canada’s Justin Trudeau for leaking meeting details to the press
China’s president has scolded Justin Trudeau for leaking details of a meeting in which the Canadian prime minister expressed concern about China allegedly interfering in Canada’s affairs.
Their brief exchange at the G20 summit in Indonesia was overheard by a TV camera.
“Everything we discussed has been leaked to the paper; that’s not appropriate,” Xi Jinping told Mr Trudeau through an interpreter.
“And that’s not… the way the conversation was conducted, if there is sincerity on your part,” Mr Xi said, at which point Mr Trudeau interrupted.
“In Canada, we believe in free and open and frank dialogue and that is what we will continue to have,” Mr Trudeau said.
“We will continue to look to work constructively together, but there will be things we will disagree on.”
Mr Xi looked around as Mr Trudeau replied.
“Let’s create the conditions first,” Mr Xi responded through the interpreter, before the pair shook hands.
The Canadian PM and Mr Xi first spoke at the G20 last Tuesday.
A Canadian official said they discussed Ukraine, North Korea and climate change, and that Mr Trudeau raised “our serious concerns around interference activities in Canada”.
Asked later at a news conference about the confrontation, Mr Trudeau said “not every conversation is always going to be easy, but it’s extremely important that we continue to stand up for the things that are important for Canadians”.
‘He’s red in the face’
Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said he thinks Mr Xi berated Mr Trudeau in front of the camera on purpose.
“When you look at him, he is red in the face, he is moving his arms,” he said.
“He looks agitated. Clearly, he was not pleased with Trudeau for leaking to press the detail of the meeting. Interesting he said it’s not the way the meeting went.”
The exchange happened at the G20 summit
Mr Saint-Jacques said it was likely Mr Xi wanted to send a message that Canada will not dictate the terms of the relationship and that Mr Trudeau had better take notice.
“It’s very unusual to see Xi Jinping engaging in this kind of public exercise to criticise someone,” Mr Saint-Jacques added.
Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly also said she discussed interference with her Chinese counterpart at the G20.
Ms Joly said last week that China was an increasingly disruptive power and warned businesses against deepening ties with the country.
Canadian police charged a Hydro-Quebec employee on Monday with espionage for allegedly sending trade secrets to China.
Relations between Beijing and Ottawa have also deteriorated in the last few years after Canadian authorities arrested a top executive from technology firm Huawei who had been charged with fraud by the US.
China jailed two Canadians shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou – Huawei’s chief financial officer and the daughter of the company’s founder, on a US extradition request.
They were sent back to Canada last year, the same day Ms Meng returned to China after reaching a deal with US authorities in her case.
Many countries have accused China of engaging in “hostage politics”, while Beijing has described the charges against Huawei and Ms Meng as a politically motivated attempt to hold back China’s economic and technological development.
Canada has banned wireless carriers from installing Huawei equipment in its high-speed 5G networks, joining allies, including the UK, in shunning the company over its close ties with the Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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