canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeausaid on Wednesday that he spoke with the president Xi Jinping the issue of Chinese interference in Canadian affairs on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali.

Ottawa has in recent weeks accused the Chinese government of interfere with its democratic institutions and judicial system, after years of strained relations between the two countries.

“I raised the issue of interference with our citizens,” Trudeau told a news conference on the Indonesian resort island.

Trudeau met Xi on Tuesday, the first face-to-face dialogue between the two leaders since 2019.

He said he told the Chinese leader, who last month won a historic third term, “It’s important to be able to have a dialogue about this.”

Canadian Federal Police said on Thursday they were investigating alleged illegal police stations set up by China in the North American country.

Trudeau also said last week that China I was playing “aggressive games” after Canadian broadcaster Global News reported on an “underground network” of Beijing-funded federal election candidates.

“It’s extremely important that we continue to stand up for the things that are important to Canadians,” Trudeau told reporters.

He said that too highlighted “areas of mutual interest and geopolitical challenges” in his conversation with Xiincluding the war in Ukraine and the tensions on the Korean peninsula.

“In Canada, we believe in free, open and frank dialogue, and that is what we will continue to have. We will continue to seek to work together constructively, but there will be things we will disagree on,” Trudeau said.

In response, the Chinese president accused of leaking details of a private meeting between the two, providing unusually candid insight into Xi’s interactions with other world leaders.

Footage captured by Canadian journalists at the Bali summit on Wednesday appeared to show Xi expressing his displeasure with the account of the meeting Trudeau shared with the media.

“Everything we discussed was leaked in the papers, it’s not appropriateXi recounts Trudeau in the video shared by a CTV reporter on Twitter.

“And that’s not how the conversation went,” Xi said. “If you are honest, we must communicate with mutual respect,” he added. “Otherwise, I’m not sure how it’s going to go.”

Xi was dismissive and said “We first create the conditions”before shaking hands with the Canadian Prime Minister and walking away.

The interaction was recorded by reporters accompanying Trudeau and posted to Twitter by a reporter from CTV National News.

On Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry declined to confirm details of the conversation between the two leaders. Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said she had no information when asked about the meeting.

(with information from AFP)

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