On November 16, a video showing a noteworthy exchange at the closing sessions of the G20 in Bali between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went viral on Twitter.
Annie Bergeron-Oliver, @AnnieClaireBO, a reporter at the Canadian news outlet CTV National News, posted the video on Twitter at 15:40 China central time on Wednesday. It has since received 8.7 million views.
As person filming walks closer, the conversation caught on video is as follows:
Xi: “报纸上去，不合适啊 [Bàozhǐ shàngqù, bù héshì a].” (“It’s not appropriate to go to the newspaper.”)
Translator: “Everything we discussed has been leaked to the paper, that is not appropriate.”
Xi: “而且我们也不是那样进行的, 对吧 [Érqiě wǒmen yě bùshì nàyàng jìnxíng de, duì ba].” (“And that’s not how we conducted it, is it?”)
Translator: “That’s not the way the conversation was conducted.”
Xi: “如果有诚心，咱们就应互相尊重的态度来进行谈话。否则这个结果就不好说了 [Rúguǒ yǒu chéngxīn, zánmen jiù yīng hùxiāng zūnzhòng de tàidù lái jìnxíng tánhuà. Fǒuzé zhège jiéguǒ jiù bù hǎoshuōle].” (“If you’re sincere, then we should conduct talks with mutual respect, otherwise the outcome is unsure [not easy to say].”)
[Xi Jinping seems to want to start to walk away, body language indicates he is done with this conversation.]
Translator: “If there is sincerity on your part…”
[Trudeau interrupts the translator and starts speaking.]
Trudeau: “In Canada, we believe in free and open and frank dialogue and that is what we will continue to have. I continue to look to work constructively together but there will be things we disagree on, we will have to..”
[Xi Jinping interrupts both Trudeau and the translator.]
Xi: “创造条件. 创造条件 [Chuàngzào tiáojiàn, chuàngzào tiáojiàn].” (“Create the conditions. Create the conditions.”)
Translator: “Let’s create the conditions first.”
Xi: “好 [Hǎo].” (“All right then”).
[Xi shakes Trudeau’s hand and walks off.]
As pointed out by Twitter user @Maoviews, Xi Jinping seems to be saying “很天真 [Hěn tiānzhēn]” when he walks off, meaning “so naive.”
Rewatching this, now realizing at 25 sec, Trudeau didn't even need to listen to translation because he understood the message all too well without.. https://t.co/UAhW2GpmAS
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) November 16, 2022
The exchange between Trudeau and Xi is likely related to an earlier informal exchange the leaders had at the sidelines of the G20 on Tuesday, November 15. Although English-language media reported about the informal meeting in a crowded room on Tuesday, mainland Chinese media did not.
Trudeau and Xi talk on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Tuesday.
Western media outlets reported that in the informal conversation, Trudeau supposedly:
– raised concerns over suspected domestic interference by China in Canadian federal elections
– discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with Xi
– spoke about North Korea
– highlighted the importance of the upcoming summit in Montreal regarding climate change
– talked with Xi on the importance of continued dialogue
…and all that within a mere ten minutes!
Relations between Canada and China have not exactly been warm and friendly recently. Last month, Canada’s industry minister François-Philippe Champagne suggested that Canada and the U.S. should want a “decoupling” from ‘rivals’ such as China and other countries that do not share “similar values.”
Earlier this month, the Canadian government ordered several Chinese companies to sell their stakes in three small Canadian lithium miners, arguing that the investments “pose a threat to national security.”
China’s Ministry of Foreign affairs called the move an “unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies” (#外交部回应加方无理打压中国企业#), fuelling more online discussions on Weibo and beyond about Canadian authorities holding on to “anti-Chinese” narratives.
On November 8, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also responded to allegations of China meddling in Canadian elections. “The Chinese side has no interest in Canadian internal politics,” spokesperson Zhao Lijian (赵立坚) said firmly (#外交部回应特鲁多称中方干涉加拿大选举#).
Some on Twitter, including Shanghai Daily reporter Andy Boreham, also linked the brief exchange between Xi and Trudeau to China-Canadian bilateral conversations held regarding Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou.
A story published by the Wall Street Journal on October 27 of this year focused on the “top-secret negotiations” that surrounded the imprisonment of two Canadian citizens in China, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, at a time when Huawei’s CFO and founder’s daughter Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on December 1st of 2018 on suspicion of bank fraud. Meng was accused of helping to disguise Huawei’s business dealings in Iran and violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.
But Chinese officials saw her arrest in Canada and possible extradition to the U.S. as an unjust move and Washington power play. The two Canadians arrested in China – just days after Meng’s detainment – were accused of threatening national security and espionage.
The article, titled “Inside the Secret Prisoner Swap that Splintered the U.S. and China,” describes in detail the negotiations between Canada, the U.S., and China, which eventually led to Meng’s return to China and the 2021 release of the two Canadians. The newspaper calls it a major “prisoner swap.”
On Chinese social media platforms Weibo and Douyin (TikTok), the video of the brief talk between Xi and Trudeau was nowhere to be found, but the Douyin autocomplete feature in the search bar clearly showed there is a general interest in the topic: upon filling in “Trudeau” (特鲁多) it suggested: “Trudeau Xi”, “Trudeau not appropriate”, “Trudeau scolded video.”
The Xi-Trudeau video is nowhere to be found on Chinese social media, but the autocomplete function in Douyin search shows the general interest in the incident.
On Chinese search engine Baidu, there were zero search results for Xi meeting Trudeau over the past week.
Meanwhile, various Chinese media accounts did post videos of Trudeau and his informal encounter with UK Prime Minister Sunak. The ‘Weibo World’ (微博天下) account wrote: “They only just arrived and already started drinking” (“刚到刚G20就喝上了”)。
The English-language state media platform Global Times did mention the brief encounter between Trudeau and Xi, writing: “During the welcoming ceremony of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the initiative to approach Chinese President Xi Jinping to chat, the Global Times learned on Wednesday from a source at the scene. But the conversation between the two leaders was very short, the source added.”
Global Times also reported that Trudeau had expressed the hope to have the opportunity to talk with Chinese leader Xi Jinping “about the Korean Peninsula, Ukraine, Canada-China relations, biodiversity and other issues,” and that Xi’s response was that “the key requirement for China-Canada relations is finding a common ground while managing the difference.”
By Manya Koetse
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