‘Wasn’t a threat’: Beijing on Xi Jinping confronting Canada’s Trudeau at G20

China’s foreign ministry responded to president Xi Jinping confronting Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau over media leaks at the G20 summit in Bali.

As Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was seen during an exchange caught an camera with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Xi was heard telling Trudeau, “Everything we discussed has been leaked to the papers, that is not appropriate. And that was not the way the conversation was conducted.”

The Canadian prime minister was then heard responding, “In Canada, we believe in free, and open, and frank dialogue and that is what we will continue to have. We will continue to look to work constructively together, but there will be things we will disagree on.”

The two were then seen shaking hands and going separate ways as Xi Jinping continued to smile and said, “That’s great, but let’s create the conditions first.”

Justin Trudeau’s office said that he had raised concerns about Chinese interference in Canadian elections, the war in Ukraine, North Korea and climate change in their ten-minute conversation.

China’s foreign ministry responded to the exchanged and was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters, “This was not a threat. Both sides were just expressing their respective position.”

China’s foreign ministry on Thursday said the current state of relations between Beijing and Ottawa is Canada’s responsibility,

The two-day G20 summit concluded on Wednesday deploring Russia’s aggression in Ukraine “in the strongest terms”, among other highlights.